Prosecutor Rebecca Terry said police had \u201clegitimate concerns\u201d about Leigh, who displayed a \u201cblatant disregard for others\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was appalling driving, as was his attitude. He had no concern for other drivers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Leigh was sentenced to community detention and supervision and further disqualified from driving on charges of dangerous driving and driving while disqualified on the two separate occasions.<\/p>\n
Overtook camper at \u2018excessive speed\u2019<\/p>\n
By July last year, Leigh had been disqualified from driving for an accumulated period on the five earlier driving offences<\/a>, three of which were for driving dangerously, plus operating a vehicle recklessly and failing to stop for police.<\/p>\n Late in the afternoon on October 22 last year, he was driving on a remote Golden Bay road in Wharariki, Puponga.<\/p>\n Miller said the road in that area was very narrow, but there was evidence to suggest the vehicle Leigh crashed into \u201cwasn\u2019t on their side of the road\u201d either.<\/p>\n Police said in the summary of facts that there was a large campervan in front of him, which he was tailgating on the winding, narrow metal road.<\/p>\n Leigh overtook the campervan near the crest of a hill at an \u201cexcessive speed,\u201d causing his vehicle to slide in the loose metal, police said.<\/p>\n As he overtook the camper, he gave the finger to the tourists.<\/p>\n A few seconds later, he came to a left-hand turn as another campervan approached from the opposite direction.<\/p>\n Police said it was travelling within the conditions and was able to come to a complete stop before Leigh\u2019s speeding vehicle hit it head-on.<\/p>\n Leigh got out of his vehicle, went up to the window of the campervan and shouted at the tourists inside why they were on \u201chis side of the road\u201d.<\/p>\n He got back in his vehicle and carried on, despite his vehicle being a \u201cwrite-off\u201d, then fled on foot when police caught up with him soon after.<\/p>\n He turned himself in to the police the next day when he admitted he was a disqualified driver, and \u201cnone of it would have happened\u201d if he hadn\u2019t been driving.<\/p>\n Terry said it was through luck and not skill that the outcome wasn\u2019t worse.<\/p>\n She said Leigh held a learner\u2019s licence, which had now been cancelled.<\/p>\n Back behind the wheel, more bad driving<\/p>\n However, three months later, he was back behind the wheel.<\/p>\n