When Colin David Piper and his partner attacked a man, his weapon of choice was perhaps not surprising - it was a piece of pipe.

On June 3 last year, Piper and his partner, Cassandra Mai,  were travelling in a vehicle along Featherston St in Palmerston North when they saw a man smoking near the Freyberg St intersection.

Piper, 53, stopped his ute and got out, wielding a steel pipe, while Mai grabbed a piece of wood, Palmerston North District Court was told  yesterday.

''Both [attackers] walked over to the victim and began to hit him on the head with the pipe and the wood,'' a police summary says.

The victim fell to the ground and  passed out. Members of the public intervened and Piper and Mai went to drive off.

As they did so, a bystander tried to flag down the ute. Instead of stopping, Piper swerved towards the bystander.

''The member of the public had to jump backwards to avoid being hit and he threw his hammer at the vehicle.'' That smashed the window, but still Piper drove on.

After a court hearing, he was found guilty on charges of dangerous driving and being a party to injuring with intent.

Judge David Smith sentenced him to four months' home detention and disqualified him from driving for 13 months.

- © Fairfax NZ News