A man feared he would die as he clung to the bonnet of a car for hundreds of metres in Dundee after its driver sped away.
Marc McIntyre was left with multiple injuries after being thrown onto the middle of the road by 50-year-old Karen Hayter.
A jury heard how Mr McIntyre tried to stop Hayter from driving away after she “clipped” a parked car on Fairhurst Walk.
However, she drove her Fiat Panda straight at him and carried him more than 500 yards around Mid-Craigie Park to Valgreen Court.
CCTV footage captured the shocking episode at around 11pm.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard how Hayter dumped her car at a nearby Asda and took a taxi home.
She claimed she was “terrified” of Mr McIntyre, who she did not know, and believed he might attack her.
Hayter could be jailed after being found guilty of endangering Mr McIntyre’s life.
Mr McIntyre broke down in tears in the public gallery after the jury returned a guilty verdict.
Sheriff Paul Brown told Hayter: “This is a serious matter you have been convicted of and I will have to consider a custodial sentence so you should prepare yourself for that on the next occasion.”
Jumped on bonnet
Mr McIntyre told jurors he was having a cigarette outside his partner’s home when he saw Hayter’s car clip a vehicle, before turning at the top of the street.
He stopped Hayter, fearing she would drive off without reporting the bump.
Mr McIntyre said he positioned himself on the bonnet after believing he was going to be taken “under” the car as Hayter drove off.
“I shouted ‘stop the f***ing car’ but she just looked at me like I wasn’t even on that car.
“She just wanted me off. It was just an evil look she had. She was just getting quicker and quicker.”
Asked by prosecutor Lee Corr what was going through his head, Mr McIntyre replied: “That I could die.”
He suffered cuts to his scalp, large abrasions across his torso and a slipped disc.
Punched windscreen
Defence counsel Paul Keenan questioned Mr McIntyre’s actions and suggested he was the aggressor.
Mr McIntyre recalled Hayter asking him to move out of the way, saying she would come back later.
“We have a woman alone in the dark faced by a man confronting her, refusing to let her leave the situation – that’s really what’s happening here isn’t it?,” Mr Keenan asked.
Mr McIntyre replied: “I said ‘you hit my neighbour’s car’, and she denied it.
“She sat at the top of the road, tooted a couple of times, came down and I confronted her.
“I think I done the right thing. She wouldn’t have come back.
“I believe my gut instinct and I believe I was doing the right thing.
“If I didn’t jump on the bonnet, I would have ended up underneath it and could have died.”
The court heard how Mr McIntyre repeatedly punched the windscreen of the car as it was being driven.
When asked by Mr Keenan what he was trying to achieve by this, Mr McIntyre said: “That maybe she would come to her senses and stop the car.”
Mr Keenan said the description of Hayter’s face as “evil” was “nonsense”.
“It was one of panic and one of terror because she was being relentlessly pursued by a man in the middle of the night,” the defence counsel added.
‘What else could a woman do?’
In her own evidence, Hayter claimed she was due to pick someone up on Fairhurst Walk that evening, before hitting the other car.
She said she was “terrified” and did not leave her house for days after the incident due to crippling anxiety.
Hayter provided no explanation as to why she did not contact the police.
Hayter, who had lodged a special defence of necessity, claimed she only drove off after Mr McIntyre climbed on the bonnet of the car.
She told the court: “I clipped a car, I turned round to come and stop to see about it but I had no choice because he jumped on my car and punched the windscreen.
“What else could a woman do?
“I was asking him to get off the car. I just thought he was going to grab me.
“I just wanted to get home and lock my door.”
Guilty
Hayter, of Balunie Street, stood trial over an assault charge but was found guilty of an alternative charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
She was convicted of causing Mr McIntyre to suffer severe injury, permanent disfigurement and permanent impairment, as well as endangering his life on September 25 2022.
Hayter accelerated her car towards him, striking him on the body causing him to jump on the bonnet, driving erratically, closing the window causing his hand to become stuck in the window and swerving harshly while turning a corner, causing him to fall onto the road.
The locus was Fairhurst Walk, Drumlanrig Drive, Pitairlie Road and Valgreen Court.
She was also found guilty of failing to stop and report an accident.
Sentence was deferred until next month for reports and bail was continued.
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