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news
Statue of Justice, Old Bailey (licensed CC BY 2.0 on Flickr by Ronnie Macdonald).jpgVan driver pleads guilty to assault after rugby-tackling female triathlete on training ride
A professional triathletebelieves missed the chance to make a breakthrough in the sport after a van driver rugby-tackled her while she was out training on her bike, causing a fracture to one of her vertebrae.
The motorist, Martyn Lee, told Caroline Livesey "I thought you were a bloke" after the incident in May this year, reports The Sun.
Lee, a 46-year-old plumber, pleaded guilty at York Crown Court to assault causing actual bodily harm.
Shawn Morales, prosecuting Lee, told the court: "The defendant had been driving along when the complainant, who was at the left side of the road, had moved over to the right to avoid hitting a dog.
"As she pulled across the road, the defendant had to then drive into the middle of both carriageways to narrowly miss Mrs Livesey.
"The complainant said the defendant then drove past her shouting something about 'undertaking' referring to a previous incident of driving down the inside lane.
"Further down the road he had stopped and, as the complainant went past, he rugby tackled her from the bike and she hit the back of her head on the road surface.”
He added: "After the incident, he told her, 'to be honest, I thought you were a bloke'."
Mrs Livesey, aged 38, had been aiming to qualify for the world championships and had been spending 48 hours a week training, having decided to work part-time in her job as an engineer.
Her injuries, which besides a broken sacrum as well as cuts and bruises meant she was unable to run of cycle for eight weeks.
"I have lost earnings - I lost out in prize money for qualification to these events and I am still in part-time employment," she wrote in a victim impact statement read out in court.
"I'm not someone to dwell on things, I'm positive and pragmatic and I have put it behind me and carried on," she added.
In mitigation for Lee, Ayisha Smart told the court: "He says that he merely pulled over further up the road to try and speak to the victim, but the build up of stress he was under at work let his anger get the better of him.
"This is the defendant's first blemish on a record of 46 years."
Recorder Nicholas Barker has ordered Lee to demonstrate he can pay compensation to Mrs Livesey, otherwise he may face jail when he is sentenced on 9 January next year.
She told him: "This was a one-off event, however, it is a very serious matter. In the complainant's statement is the financial impact therefore unusually in the circumstances I am going to defer sentencing."
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- Steve K 1 sec ago
Maybe cycling as mode of transport vs cycling as sport/hobby. Again, they can overlap.
- mdavidford 10 min 24 sec ago
Unfortunately, the AI is more likely to look at the weight of people expressing that opinion and considered it gold standard truth....
- matt-p 19 min 10 sec ago
Some super logic by the counciller.......
- slc 25 min 32 sec ago
Plus, it takes just one bright spark with a drill to turn water-filled barriers back to the easily moved state.
- Steve K 39 min 39 sec ago
Gosh, I thought I was a late comer to this
- thax1 1 hour 52 min ago
I managed to break the chain link on mine. (I assume it's the same product, mine came as part of a rather snazzy Birzman toolkit)....
- thax1 1 hour 56 min ago
Good review. I like to see the full range of 'award stars' in use to differentiate between good and 'meh' products. Same with the Ribble Allroad...
- brooksby 2 hours 3 min ago
I was under the impression that “unbalanced investment from Arab countries” is having a not necessarily good impact on pretty much every sport.
- brooksby 2 hours 10 min ago
Very true....
- brooksby 2 hours 14 min ago
Like going to a cello lesson?
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43 comments
Worry no more! I'm sure the government's investigation into road safety, and specifically the safety of cyclists, will be examining whether attacking a cyclist just because they are a cyclist, should be a hate crime. Of course they will. Almost certainly. Definitely.
Worry no more! I'm sure the government's investigation into road safety, and specifically the safety of cyclists, will be examining whether attacking a cyclist just because they are a cyclist, should be a hate crime.........
[/quote]
It'll all get watered down to the nothing that has happened in the 3years since the parliamentary enquiry....of cause i might be wrong and a government minister is already penning a letter to the Association of Plumbing and Heating Engineers with handy tips on how their members can work out the gender of a cyclist before assaulting them
Fraxtured spine, so why isn't this cunt up for GBH, extended injury and motivated hatred against a minority group. CPS are a bunch of bottleless knobs, the fact he hasn't plead guilty and aggravated factors should hopefully see this wanker get a stretch but he won't.
The victim should have said she has being affected by this ever since and is worried if she'll be violently attacked in the future, because those who don't are less likely to get justice comensurate with the offence.
I hope she fucking nails this cunt into the ground for compo.
And as for this BS, is the prosecutor a moron? "the defendant had to then drive into the middle of both carriageways to narrowly miss Mrs Livesey"
no, if the defendant had being driving properly he'd have left plenty of space and being able to brake without impinging on the vulnerable road user, he might also have being able to see the hazard and simply ease off his speed but no he pressed on like an arrogant moton scum-bag and then attacked his victim for his wrongdoing.
Basically he didn't have to drive into the middle of the road, it was his piss poor driving that led to that not the actions of Mrs livesey.
Of course, had the victim been male, he would not have apologised for his assault & ABH.
As for 46 years unblemished driving career. If this is his first error, he must really be the best, most careful driver ever. Ever. #justbecauseyouhaventbeencaughtbeforedoesntmeanyouhaventbeenguiltyofcountlescrimes
Moronic comments as expected on that Sun article. Not even the victim have been a former military personnel and being quite photogenic (usual sympathy triggers for the knuckle draggers) could prevent the cyclist hating comments and the nonsense about 'undertaking' (not contrary to Highway Code unless on the motorway in any case).
How come this guy isn't immediately jailed? If anyone had attacked a random person because of some perceived slight, and caused serious injury affecting their earnings and medium term health, would they be given the option of paying compensation or going to prison.
While I can only agree that he should pay compensation, and if necessary bankrupted as a warning to others (see fat, ugly, stupid 4x4 drivers) it would appear that drivers are still being treated more leniently than the rest of the population, for no other reason than that they are drivers.
From the Telegraph's report:
I'm struggling to even begin to have any sympathy for him. This c**t is not sorry and reaping what he sowed.
Hopefully prison and a driving ban, and the fine people of Harrogate will continue to boycott and humiliate him.
Sorry but that's uncalled for. After all, a cunt has warmth and depth...
Perhaps he should have his licence revoked until he's got his stress under control. I'm genuinely thinking about his wellbeing here, driving in itself can be a very stressful business. If his stress is as bad as his defence lawyer states and it manifests itself in this way, I'm sure his lawyer will support me in this call.
But then he won't be able to work to pay his £150 costs and £50 victim compensation.
I suspect the plaintiff will have his house for compensation once the criminal case is done. With a guilty verdict the civil suit becomes a turn up and collect day which is what Ms Livesey is aiming for.
So he beats up a cyclist and he says it is caused by stress.
Luckily the cyclist was female as I think he would have killled a male cyclist due to his "stress".
Ah, the old "I lost control due to stress" defence. If the cyclist had been a 6' 4" bloke built like a brick shithouse, I don't mind betting that this cunt would have had no problem keeping control, despite "stress".
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