Father of four avoids jail for trying to crash into car that came to rescue of 16yo son after ‘fistfight’

A Southern Cross shearer who abandoned his 16-year-old son on the side of the road after a “fistfight” with him, and then attempted to crash into a car that had stopped to help, has avoided immediate jail. Shearing business owner Hunter-Marley Knowles Hume, 31, was sentenced in Kalgoorlie District Court this week after pleading guilty to doing an act with intent to harm. About 5.15pm on October 16 2023, Hume was driving a van along Southern Cross Road near Marvel Loch with his two sons, aged 16 and four. The court heard Hume became “frustrated” with his eldest son and “blew up”, stopping the vehicle and demanding that the boy get out, before starting a fistfight with him on the side of the road. The father of four then got back in the car and drove away, leaving his son to walk the 15km-20km home. Two cars travelling on the same stretch of road slowed to ask the teenager if he needed help, the court was told. Noticing this, Hume did a U-turn and sped along the wrong side of the road towards the driver of the first car, who had to quickly swerve on to the shoulder to avoid a collision. The victim asked Hume what was wrong with him, with Hume replying he wanted to crash his car, and challenged the victim to a fight. The victim ignored him and drove away, with Hume later arrested for this offending and other matters. During an interview with police, Hume said he sped towards the cars because he wanted them to “mind your own and f… right off”. Hume told the author of a pre-sentence report he was not drunk or high at the time of the offending, and sought to minimise his offending in his description of the incident. Judge Michael Gething said character references provided to the court by Hume’s wife, brother-in-law and neighbour painted a picture of the stress he was feeling in the lead-up to his offending. He said Hume had been running his own shearing business which was “very successful” and “valued” in the Southern Cross community, and had taken on management of additional teams, which caused him to struggle with his work-life balance. “You were also personally exhausted by the sheer amount of work that you were doing,” Mr Gething said. “In order to manage the stress, you did two things. You turned to alcohol, and you turned to cannabis. And they were all issues and things that you have had a longstanding issue with. And it was in that context that you committed the offences.” Judge Gething said the offending had been a “wake-up call” for Hume, who had made several steps to change his behaviour, including giving up alcohol and cannabis, and reducing his workload. “You did exactly what the community would want you to have done in response to committing an offence of this seriousness — you took it as a wake-up call,” he said. “So I do accept that your risk of committing a similar offence in the future has been significantly reduced.” Hume was granted a 25 per cent discount on his sentence for his early plea of guilty, with Judge Gething handing him a nine-month imprisonment term, conditionally suspended for 12 months.