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The New Zealand Herald
The New Zealand Herald
World

Road rage attack: Man who punched woman has been charged

A man who allegedly punched a woman in the face during a violent road rage episode has been charged.

Dash cam footage captured the moment the man approached 22-year-old Bianca Lee Sams and punched her in the head.

Police charged the 41-year-old man with assault occasioning bodily harm.

He was granted conditional bail before he appears at Wyong Local Court on August 30.

The alleged victim has come out firing, slamming the man as a "bitch, low-life [and] scumbag" on national television.

Speaking to A Current Affair last night, Sams didn't hold back.

"I don't back down to no one, never have, never will. He's a bitch in my eyes," Sams said.

"I was like, 'this dude is a f***in' nutcase [and] I need to protect me, my friend and son'.

"I just grabbed a set of nails like a nail gun, breaking them up, and then I just started hoping he'd leave us alone, and throwing them at his car, he just kept coming."

Earlier, Sams revealed in a series of posts on social media that she also threw a chisel out her car window before the attack.

In one of the posts she claimed her actions were in response to allegedly nearly being run off the road in a car carrying herself, the driver and a "5-month-old baby".

"I threw them because I had to. [It was] what I had to do to protect me and my friend," Sams told ACA.

"We were both scared, We didn't know what to do.

"We tried swerving and he kept following us."

Sams' comments follow the release of mobile phone footage of the attack, which took place in Doyalson, Lake Macquarie.

Truck driver Dwayne Pillidge said he saw a woman throwing projectiles from the car she was a passenger in.

"It was kind of like a Dukes of Hazzard scene, so she was sitting on the windowsill and it looked a little bit like maybe small pieces of wood," Pillidge wrote when he posted the video to Dash Cam Owners Australia.

"I don't care what your reason, it is not OK to hit a woman."

The attack captured on Pillidge's dash cam shows a man in a yellow T-shirt walking determinedly towards the vehicle stopped at an intersection in front of him.

Sams can be seen in the footage as she gets out the passenger side and stands next to the car with her arms folded as the man approaches.

They appear to say something to each other. Within seconds, he punches her directly in the face.

"I wasn't gonna do nothing to him," Sams told ACA.

"I had my arms crossed, I wasn't it's an aggressive manner. I always cross me arms."

In the footage, Sams' head jerks violently back and she then grabs her face and climbs back into her car. The man walks back to his own vehicle, but as he is doing so, the front vehicle reverses and appears to swerve toward him.

She told friends on Facebook she passed the man "doing 50 in a 80 zone" and alleged he became aggressive.

Sams said her friend Taylor, who was driving, had a baby in the car when the assault occurred.

"Wanna I hope I never find you. Still standing didn't even hurt mate," she wrote. The post was accompanied with laughing emojis.

After friends asked if she was okay, she told them she was "fine" but wanted to take him to the police.

"Hit me right in the jaw hahaha doesn't hurt one bit."

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