Vandenberg, wearing only underwear, got out of his car at the traffic lights and approached Al Enizi and told him to “open the f—ing door” and hit Al Enizi’s car when he did not do so.
“The pair threw punches at each other but [no witnesses] saw the punches actually connect. The men separated and then went back to their cars,” O’Rourke said.
Both men ended up driving off in the same direction to their respective homes.
At 2.55pm the pair ended up at a housing estate at Logan with Vandenberg following Al Enizi and kicking his car at an intersection.
Witnesses would testify Vandenberg later picked up a hammer and was standing on the roadway before Al Enizi drove across two lanes in order to strike Vandenberg with his car, O’Rourke said.
The jury were told they would see CCTV footage of Vandenberg being thrown into the air by the impact.
Al Enizi had simply responded in a split second to an impending threat from Vandenberg, who had a hammer and was behaving in an “aggressive unhinged, and terrifying” manner, defence barrister Saul Holt told the jury.
“Troy Vandenberg ran out from the other side [of the road] on a path to intercept Mr Al Enizi’s car as it was driving through and Mr Vandenberg threw a hammer at full force towards his windscreen,” Holt said.
Vandenberg was a muscular man who said on the phone “some black curry-munching c— has just cut me off”, after his first encounter with Al Enizi, Holt said.
Holt told the jury they could find the witnesses were inconsistent about Al Enizi crossing two lanes in order to hit Vandenberg.
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