Piter Rumlaklak avoids jail after bashing former TV journalist Wayne Dyer in road rage attack A MAN who bashed a former TV journalist in a brutal road rage attack sparked over a cigarette butt has avoided jail. Piter Rumlaklak, 26, left Wayne Dyer unconscious and with serious injuries after punching in the head several times during the March assault. He had taken exception to Mr Dyer confronting him about throwing a cigarette butt out of a car window on a total fire ban day. The men had been driving along the Western Highway near Deer Park when Dyer saw Rumlaklak discard the cigarette. He confronted him when they were both pulled up at a set of traffic lights. The Melbourne Magistrates Court heard today that Rumlaklak's reaction was "violent to the extreme." Peter Wilkins, for Rumlaklak, said his client understood the seriousness of his attack and regeretted the way he handled the confrontation. "He went overboard," he said. In arguing for his client to escape being convicted over the attack Mr Wilkins said Rumlaklak's youth, clean criminal record and plea of guilty to assault charges were significant factors. But magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg said the extreme seriousness of the assault meant a conviction had to be recorded. "He's not going to jail and that could easily have been the case," he said. Mr Rozencwajg said Mr Dyer had suffered serious physically and physcologically because of the incident. "It's well and good that counsel have described these events as having been initiated by the victim (but) that's not quite true," he said. We all are confronted with various situations. We don't go out and behave the way you do. Mr Rozencwajg said Mr Dyer was a law abiding citizen who was merely trying to make Rumlaklak aware of the dangers of not properly extinguishing cigarettes on total fire ban days. Rumlaklak was placed on a 15-month community corrections order and fined $5000. He must also undertake behaviour management programs as directed.