The man behind the wheel of the Toyota was able to manoeuvre his vehicle out of the way of oncoming traffic and then approached Nathan and his mother to check if anyone was hurt and obtain their insurance details.
Clark had parked in nearby Santa Monica Dr to assess the damage to the large SUV which belonged to a friend of Nathan.
While his mother and the Toyota driver were talking, Nathan became “increasingly agitated … swearing and blaming the complainant for the accident”.
Despite Clark telling her son to stop, urging that they needed to “hurry up and leave”, Nathan continued to swear at the Toyota driver.
Fearful, the Toyota driver began to call 111, at which point Nathan punched him in the eye. His victim held up his hands to protect his face from a barrage of punches to his head, face and arms which knocked him to the ground.
“Ms Clark shouted at Mr Nathan to stop, screaming that they had to get out of there. Thinking that the assault had stopped, the complainant attempted to get to his feet. As he stood up, Mt Nathan punched him in the face again, knocking him back to the ground and causing his nose to bleed profusely,” the police summary of facts detailed.
A member of the public had witnessed the assault and then intervened, after which Nathan and his mother fled the scene.
The victim of Nathan’s attack was transported to Middlemore Hospital with a fractured eye socket, haemorrhaging of the blood vessels in the left eye and bruising to the face and back of the head.
He underwent surgery four days after the assault and, almost two years later, continues to suffer from debilitating double vision and has ongoing medical appointments for his injuries.
When spoken to by police, Nathan claimed he had acted in self-defence as the Toyota driver “was coming at him”.
In August, Nathan pleaded guilty to the charge of causing grievous bodily harm with reckless disregard which has a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.
He was initially due to be sentenced on November 14 in the Manakau District Court but it was adjourned. The 20-year-old did not turn up to that court date and was issued with a warrant to appear on November 18 by the judge who told Nathan’s lawyer he “really should be [here]”.
Nathan had initially sought a discharge without conviction, but his lawyer abandoned it at the November 14 court date.
Nathan was a child actor who appeared in 46 episodes of Shortland Street in the 2020 and 2023 seasons as the homeless teen Boogie Jones.
The character was one of several teens living rough in the fictitious suburb of Ferndale where the show takes place, and was portrayed as a protector of other vulnerable kids.
He also appeared in 14 episodes of the schoolboy rugby drama, Head High.
However, he has not had any acting credits since 2023.
His profile page on his former agent’s website, Johnson and Laird, is now blank and labelled as a “missing page”.
Nathan was also an aspiring musician, with a Spotify profile and a 2018 single, Jump I got you.
It’s also understood he has trained at renowned MMA gym City Kickboxing in Auckland.
Nathan attended Manurewa High School in South Auckland.
In a 2020 interview with Stuff, the then 16-year-old spoke about how he had to adapt to being recognised in public for his acting roles.
“It’s impacted my life pretty hard. I’ll go to a rugby game or something and some of the players are calling me Boogie or Riley and I’m just like, ‘Oh, okay’. It’s pretty weird to get that kind of exposure.”
Nathan is now due to be sentenced this month.
Tom Dillane is an Auckland-based journalist covering local government and crime as well as sports investigations. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is a duty editor and senior reporter.
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