A father-of-two who deliberately hit a little boy riding his bike in a shopping centre car park with his car, wrongly believing the bike was his own, which had been stolen, has been sentenced to 12 months on house arrest.

Raymond Anthony Baldwin, 26, pleaded guilty to charges of assault, dangerous driving and failing to stop following an incident at Green Point Plaza in Bridgewater on November 6, 2022.

The Supreme Court heard the boy was riding his bike in the car park when Baldwin started riding towards him.

The incident was captured on CCTV footage, which shows the boy turning to avoid traffic, driving towards the east side of the car park and doing a wheelie when he suddenly saw a car approaching at high speed.

The court found that Baldwin ran over the boy at a high rate of speed and hit his bicycle. The impact damaged the rear wheel and the bicycle frame.

The force of the impact threw the boy from the bike and caused him to fall to the ground, hitting his head.

When the boy got up and ran towards Woolworths to find his mother, Baldwin stopped the car and angrily chased the boy, shouting that he would kill him and that his bike had been stolen.

Judge Helen Wood said the incident was captured on CCTV and examination of the scene showed Baldwin was “travelling at a speed” of more than 26mph (42km/h) at the time of impact.

“This is a particularly shocking case of dangerous driving and assault… His intention to hit the cyclist was reactive and he acted in a fit of anger,” she said.

“The victim was completely unprotected and not wearing a helmet. To run over a child on a bicycle and hit them, subjecting them to the forces of a collision with a fast-moving motor vehicle, is a horrific and extremely serious act of violence.”

Mr Justice Wood said the child could easily have suffered serious and permanent harm or death.

She noted that Baldwin had no previous convictions and admitted that at the time of the incident he was “stressed and preoccupied” with concerns about his partner.

“Mr. Baldwin, I think you are a man who made a terrible decision in a state of extreme anger,” she said.

Judge Wood sentenced Baldwin to 12 months of home detention, ordered him to complete 140 hours of community service and disqualified him from driving for two years.