A delivery driver left an “elderly gentleman” on the ground with a broken arm after pushing him so hard he was thrown through the air.

What led to the April assault was the victim’s objection to the driver parking over a fire hydrant.

On Thursday, the driver, Steve Hansen, appeared in Wellington District Court, where he was sentenced to 175 hours of community work and ordered to pay the victim $1000.

The charge, written injures – if death – manslaughter, was described by Judge Stephen Harrop as serious and uncommon, and if the man had died, Hansen would have faced a count of manslaughter.

The court heard the offending occurred while Hansen, 31, was working a delivery job in central Wellington.

He had parked his car on Leeds St in front of a restaurant where he was collecting food for a client when his victim spotted Hansen’s vehicle, which was blocking a fire hydrant.

Confronting Hansen, the victim slapped the window of Hansen’s car, prompting the delivery driver to “erupt”.

He then pushed the man’s chest with enough force that he was thrown through the air and fell to the ground.

Hansen immediately left the scene.

The victim suffered two compound breaks to his left arm, for which he required surgery.

In court, Judge Harrop told Hansen his victim had good cause to call him out for parking over a fire hydrant, as it was an important safety issue for residents in the area.

“He was entitled to call an issue with it,” the Judge said.

“It’s an entirely different thing to get angry at an elderly gentleman and push him in such a forceful way.”

Defence lawyer Oliver Neas said his client “felt very terrible about what has happened”, describing Hansen’s remorse as “deep”.

Hansen didn’t intend to hurt the man and wanted to make amends through restorative justice but the victim declined to participate, Neas said.

The court heard Hansen had offered to pay $100 a week in reparation.

“He wants to make it right as soon as he can,” Neas said.

Hazel Osborne is an Open Justice reporter for NZME and is based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington. She joined the Open Justice team at the beginning of 2022, previously working in Whakatāne as a court and crime reporter in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.