John Earney had to drive himself away from his attacker to a police cordon.
A once positive and independent man now has trouble sleeping and relies on others to work his farm after a brutal attack tipped his world upside down.
Only months ago, John Earney was a self-supporting Taranaki farmer who lived alone and spent most days running his farm and caring for his livestock.
But on January 8, life significantly changed for the 64-year-old.
Daniel Kevin Lowe was taken away by police.
He was the victim of a vicious and arguably premeditated assault which involved him being run down by his own ute and an attached horse float driven by his daughter's former fiance, Daniel Kevin Lowe.
But the daylight attack didn't end there, the 24-year-old then stormed Earney with a barrage of punches, kicks and stomps to the chest, face and head area while threatening to shoot him.
Armed police were at the scene of the assault.
The incident was born from the breakup of Lowe's three-year-relationship with Earney's daughter.
The pair had called it quits the day before the attack and had agreed to the separation of their property shared at their Inglewood address.
On the morning of the incident, Earney, his son and his daughter arrived at the property and removed a load of her belongings.
In separate cars, they were returning to the address a couple of hours later when Lowe phoned his ex and an argument developed about their breakup and their property.
Lowe became angry and started yelling threats, saying: "if you guys come here s... is going to get real" and "no one is to come here or they will get shot".
Following the conversation, the woman phoned police with concerns for her dad who was still on his way to the property.
When Earney arrived he met Lowe on the driveway and the two shook hands.
Lowe asked why Earney was there and when he informed him the purpose of his visit, Lowe pulled him from the ute and onto the ground.
Lowe got into the driver's seat and proceeded to drive the vehicle forward while Earney hung to the door before sliding down the side of the vehicle.
It was then that he was driven over by both the ute and the attached horse float.
Following the incident, Earney was left dazed and covered in grit. He managed to get back to his vehicle and drive down the road to where police were waiting.
It's been four months since the incident, and while his many physical injuries, including a broken cheek bone, a dislocated shoulder and a cracked rib, have healed, Earney is still suffering.
Among the many ongoing side effects, he has a constant headache, has trouble sleeping for fear his home is being entered, he is unable to drive and has trouble completing daily farm tasks.
The financial burden on Earney is great. He says he has "absolutely no income at all", his working account and savings have been depleted and he has had to hire people to help on the farm.
His demeanour had also changed, with him now "shunning people" and his outlook on life being a lot more bleak.
On Monday, Lowe was sentenced at New Plymouth District Court on a charge of injuring with intent to injure and careless driving causing injury.
Presiding Judge Chris Sygrove said the consequences of Lowe's actions were extremely serious.
He handed down a sentence of nine months supervision, 120 hours community work, six months loss of licence and ordered Lowe pay Earney $5000 emotional harm reparation.
"The damage both mental and physical will stay with me for many, many years," Earney said in a victim impact statement shared with the court.
"I doubt things will go back to 100 per cent of what they used to be."
TARA SHASKEY
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