Christopher Paul Rhodes, 48, appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after earlier pleading guilty to two charges of assault.
The court heard that on October 11 Rhodes was at the Clutha River where his whitebaiting hut was.
His former best friend and his wife drove past Rhodes and pulled the finger at him out the car window.
The couple stopped to chat to someone at a hut about 50m away from Rhodes.
Rhodes walked towards the victims’ vehicle, and reached through the open window to grab the man by the scruff of his neck and punched him in the face multiple times.
He grabbed the man’s goatee and pulled out some whiskers, the court heard.
Rhodes then focused his attention on the female victim, grabbing her arm and punching her once in the face.
The fight was broken up by others nearby.
The male victim had bruising, a cut lip and tenderness where his beard hairs had been pulled out.
His wife suffered minor injuries.
The court heard the victims were concerned that their enjoyment of fishing would be impacted by anxiety about a similar event in future.
Judge Deidre Orchard noted Rhodes had no convictions for violent offending.
"I think I can be reasonably confident that there won’t be a repetition," the judge said.
"I’d note also that it was [the male victim’s] behaviour that set it off."
Judge Orchard sentenced Rhodes to 100 hours’ community work and ordered him to pay $500 emotional harm reparation to each victim, and $30 for the shirt he ripped in the scuffle.
