A Ballarat man who allegedly accelerated towards a roadside worker is facing jail time.
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Glen Sandwith, 43, appeared before the Ballarat Magistrates Court yesterday and pleaded guilty to a string of charges including dangerous driving over the incident in Linton on October 12 last year.
The court was told Sandwith was driving on Carngham-Linton Road when he saw the man redirecting traffic after a tree had been knocked down.
Sandwith allegedly revved his car before deliberately swerving towards the man who had to take evasive action before a stop sign he was holding was hit.
The victim alter told police he recognised the Holden Rodeo and thought Sandwith had been behind the wheel.
"I really thought he was going to hit me and I was really scared ... it was definitely a deliberate act by the driver," he said.
The court was also told of an assault a month earlier in Ballarat where Sandwith headbutted another man while having a cigarette on the deck of a suburban house, causing bruissing to the man’s forehead.
Sandwith's defence lawyer said his client had been drinking 12 cans of bourban a day at the time of the offending.
The lawyer initially pushed for a non custodial sentence to be imposed, saying his client had got his drinking under control and was completing a community corrections order that had been ordered before the two incidents last year.
But Magistrate Gregory Robinson rejected this, saying swerving at the road worker warranted a jail sentence.
"It's effectively using a weapon to try and attack someone - a very dangerous one - and he almost succeeds with him hitting the stop sign that the gentleman was carrying," Mr Robinson said.
"I think driving your car at someone on the road is not the type of conduct a CCO representsive sufficient denuniciation of it," he continued.
However, Sandwith's defence argued the swerve was not deliberate and that he did not hit the sign.
The lawyer said he initially thought the police brief stated that there was no deliberate attempt to swerve towards the man, telling the court Sandwith did not recall hitting the stop sign.
Magistrate Robinson said it appeared the facts were disputed in the case and agreed to adjourn it until a contest mention on June 7.
The case continues.