A complaint about bad driving led to four nights in hospital for the victim of the violent beating that followed.
Today, a patched member of the Hell's Angels outlaw motorcycle club avoided prison for assaulting and threatening to kill the man - a resident in the motor camp where they both live.
Rhys Hatfield was instead sentenced to six months' community detention and a year's intensive supervision.
He had earlier admitted the charges after the driving incident in February this year, which triggered the home invasion, and a threat using a large knife.
It left the victim terrified and unable to work for a couple of weeks due to the nature of his injuries, and Hatfield with a conviction for serious offending after a long spell of obeying the law.
The Nelson District Court heard today how Hatfield and the victim knew each other, but there was discord between them, mainly because of Hatfield's perception of how he'd been treated in the past.
The pair lived at the city council-owned Maitai Valley Motor Camp – a "Woodsy riverfront property" with cabins and spaces for caravans.
On an evening in early February the victim was driving on the highway south of Nelson when he was overtaken by a vehicle, from which passengers including Hatfield yelled obscenities at him.
This, and the manner in which the vehicle was being driven prompted the victim to complain to the police.
When he returned to the motor camp, one of Hatfield's friends went into the victim's caravan to ask why he'd called the police.
As the friend exited the caravan Hatfield went in and lunged at the victim, punching him in the head so hard he hit the side frame of the caravan.
The victim was able to break free from the headlock he was in, at which point Hatfield grabbed a large kitchen knife and told the victim that he would kill him, and that he wanted him out of the camp.
"I'm Hell's Angels and I'm going to f*** you up," Hatfield uttered to the victim.
Judge Jo Rielly described it as a home invasion which was not fleeting but involved prolonged, multiple blows.
"There was a threat to kill and you used a knife to instil fear," she said.
At that point other people called out to him to stop, but there was more posturing by Hatfield before he left the victim alone.
The man was taken to hospital by ambulance and treated for bruising, swelling, scratches and cuts.
It was two weeks before the victim was able to go back to work, his vision and hearing impaired by the beating.
Judge Rielly said the victim impact statement highlighted the harm to the victim, who at the time was also deeply concerned for his partner who was still at the motor camp, as he lay in hospital.
Alternative accommodation was arranged for the pair, but the victim has continued to suffer ongoing effects from the threat and the beating, including loss of concentration, the need to wear corrective glasses plus numbness and pain in his arm.
"He wants to get on with his life and recover but it's fair to say the effect on him has been significant, both physically and emotionally," Judge Rielly told Hatfield.
She said a starting point for sentencing for such offences was wide and varied, but there was force in the Crown's argument that it was difficult to separate the two charges, because it was the combined effect of each offence which caused the harm.
"Immediately after the assault you picked up a large knife and uttered an extremely concerning threat."
She said Hatfield was a "bit of an enigma", as a man in his early to mid-50s, who in recent years had managed to turn his life around and be free of the justice system for the past decade.
"You have instead focused on your partner and son. This was a significant fall from grace. It was a completely unnecessary incident."
Judge Rielly added the "alcohol-fuelled anger" had been witnessed by his young son, which was extremely harmful to a child.
She was however pleased to read he had expressed remorse.
"I hope that someone tells the victim you are remorseful because I think it would be a great comfort to him because of his ongoing fear," Judge Rielly said while noting the offending was possibly linked to matters in Hatfield's life at the time.
She said in sentencing Hatfield to community detention, that home detention would deny him the opportunity to work and pay the $1800 emotional harm reparation she ordered.
Hatfield was now also subject to a curfew, and a list of special conditions within the sentence of intensive supervision, including that he attend an anger management course.
