A Canberra company owner experienced a "complete loss of control" when he chased and rammed his business partner's van before using a large machine to smash a ute "to pieces".
Magistrate Robert Cook described Richard Lanigan's behaviour as "explosive" on Wednesday afternoon as he sentenced the 42-year-old to a two-month suspended jail term for property damage.
Mr Cook also imposed a 12-month good behaviour order, a $600 fine and a disqualification from driving for three months across four related charges.
Court documents show an agitated Lanigan phoned the co-owner of his masonry business one day in June 2020, demanding that the man "get [his] arse" to their worksite in Kenny.
When Lanigan's business partner later turned up, the 42-year-old Irishman got into a company-owned Toyota Hilux and drove at him.
He made "light contact" with the business partner's right leg before driving around him, causing the victim to fear Lanigan was trying to run him over.
Lanigan eventually reversed three or four times into the victim's Volkswagen Transporter, but he was unable to stop the man getting into the driver's seat and taking off.
The offender therefore followed the victim into an underpass beneath the Federal Highway, where he rammed the Transporter.
He ultimately drove back to the worksite and got into a large front-end loader, which he used to destroy the Hilux.
When Lanigan was arrested, he told police: "I used that loader to smash the ute to pieces."
He spent eight days in custody before being granted bail.
Lanigan ultimately pleaded guilty to two counts each of property damage and menacing driving, as well as a single charge of driving unlicensed.
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When the 42-year-old fronted the ACT Magistrates Court for sentence on Wednesday, defence lawyer Michael Kukulies-Smith described his client's offending as "somewhat inexplicable".
"He has clearly reacted to what he perceived to be the laziness of his business partner, and other matters, in quite an irrational fashion," Mr Kukulies-Smith said.
The lawyer also conceded the potential for serious injury had been present right throughout the episode, which he labelled "a very unfortunate aberration in [Lanigan's] life".
Mr Kukulies-Smith said Lanigan was not ordinarily a violent person, noting the man had mentally been "not in a good place" at the time.
"[This] goes some way to explaining what is otherwise bizarre behaviour in terms of this defendant," he told the court.
While Mr Kukulies-Smith conceded the property damage offence relating to the destruction of the Hilux was "right at the margin" of the threshold for a jail sentence, he argued it did not quite reach that height.
Prosecutor Kiara Sheridan contended that it did, telling the court Lanigan's conduct was "highly aggressive and highly dangerous".
Ms Sheridan said it was fortunate no one was seriously injured, adding that Lanigan should not have been behind the wheel in any event because the Irishman had never held a licence to drive in Australia.
Mr Cook ultimately found a jail sentence was necessary, albeit in a suspended form.
"I note the complete loss of control by you," he told Lanigan.
The magistrate also noted that Lanigan's business partnership had dissolved, with the settlement more favourable to the victim because it accounted for the 42-year-old having damaged company property.
"It was a stupid and silly thing to do," Mr Cook said of Lanigan having "completely wiped out" a vehicle he had owned 50 per cent of.
The magistrate said Lanigan was, however, a low of risk of reoffending and generally, according to reference material, "a kind, gentle man".
