©istockphoto/DNY59

A 33-YEAR-old Grafton man has avoided jail after admitting he sped through central Grafton with a woman desperately clinging to the bonnet and screaming for him to stop.

Michael Thomas Kennedy, of Dobie Street, appeared at Grafton Local Court yesterday charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and two counts of reckless driving.

Charges of negligent driving, offensive behaviour and common assault were withdrawn.

The charges followed a night of drunken mayhem on August 25 last year.

The court heard the statements of five witnesses who described how Kennedy first drove into one man and then attacked him with a hockey stick.

The man's left hand and wrist were broken in the attack.

A woman then jumped onto the bonnet of Kennedy's car. When she refused to get off, Kennedy drove at high speed as she screamed for him to stop.

The witnesses told police the trip went from the corner of King and Fitzroy to Clarence Street - a distance of 1.2 kilometres.

Magistrate Kim Pogson said all the witnesses were well-affected by alcohol when the events took place, but their statements gave a reliable impression of what happened.

Kennedy was convicted and sentenced to 12-month good behaviour bonds for the assault charge and the first reckless driving charge. On the second reckless driving charge he was fined $1000 and disqualified from driving for three years.

An alleged act of retaliation against Kennedy by the victims and their friends is now before the District Court.