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news
Road rage motorist who drove with cyclist on bonnet avoids jail (screenshot CPS video)Road rage motorist who drove with cyclist on bonnet avoids jail
A motorist who drove with a cyclist on his bonnet following a dispute, prompted by the motorist hitting the rider with their vehicle moments earlier, has avoided jail.
Ahmed Al-Rawi was convicted of dangerous driving and given a suspended 12-month sentence at Winchester Crown Court, banned from driving for one year and also ordered to pay the victim £500 compensation, but avoided an immediate jail term for his actions during a road rage dispute in Swindon.
The judge concluded that the motorist posed "absolutely no danger to the public" despite being seen driving with the victim on his bonnet for several car lengths in footage showed in court.
Al-Rawi claimed he gave the cyclist room, an argument the judge said "the jury is likely to have rejected", as they travelled through Swindon on 18 July 2020. When the rider challenged the 55-year-old an argument ended with the motorist driving off with the cyclist on his bonnet as the victim shouted for him to stop.
Moments later a police van arrived on the scene, with an officer ordering Al-Rawi out of his vehicle, and arresting him.
Prosecuting, Leigh Hart said after the pair became "enthralled" in an argument the cyclist had stood in front of the vehicle.
"The defendant I believed kicked or threw the bike out of the way, and [the victim] remained in the street in front of the bonnet," she said.
"Some verbal words were exchanged and the defendant ended up driving away, resulting in [the victim] being carried on the bonnet for about three car lengths.
"Officers intervened and stopped and arrested the defendant, who disputed the driving was dangerous."
The bike was damaged during the incident and following a 'not guilty' plea, a jury at Winchester Crown Court found Al-Rawi guilty last month.
At sentencing last Thursday, Judge Richard Parkes QC said the act was "plainly a dangerous thing to do" and "passes the custodial threshold" but Al-Rawi poses "absolutely no danger to the public".
The one-year sentence is suspended for 18 months and Al-Rawi will need to pass an extended re-test if he wishes to reclaim his licence at the end of the one-year driving ban.
In interview and at trial the motorist said he suffered post-traumatic stress disorder having been tortured in Iraq, while defence barrister Gareth James explained his client had managed to escape after claiming asylum in the UK.
"There does not appear to have been a great deal of speed, and fortunately the injuries sustained to [the victim] are relatively minor," Mr James said.
"It is a very short-lived incident and it is one which in my respectful submission could normally be dealt with by means of a community order, particularly when you bear in mind the assessments of the probation service."
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
Latest Comments
- Veganpotter 4 hours 1 min ago
He should never be able to drive again.
- Veganpotter 4 hours 9 min ago
He wouldn't have gotten so far with a bent link. He could have hypothetically bent a link on a barrier but that can happen with any chain. This...
- David9694 4 hours 40 min ago
Vauxhall van and Salvatori delivery truck stuck in width restrictions in Church Road, Murston...
- chrisonabike 4 hours 44 min ago
Don't come round 'ere with your "why not fix it so that everyone can use it" nonsense!...
- chrisonabike 4 hours 48 min ago
Thank you for the local knowledge. One out of two ain't bad? And you get the best of both worlds currently... Presumably there are people who...
- Dhill 5 hours 53 min ago
I agree with you. Just enjoy riding a bike. Easy to forget that one simple thing.
- Steve K 6 hours 22 min ago
He also writes articles from there saying that people whom work from home are all skivers who should be back in the office
- Rendel Harris 7 hours 32 min ago
By no means claiming that Armstrong was the only doper in that period but your claim makes no sense: the average speed is taken on the time of the...
- wtjs 8 hours 1 min ago
I suffered a close pass by a BMW driver 2 or 3 years ago. 10 yards later he was stopped by temporary lights. It's all on video: there's no swearing...
- ManicDrummer 8 hours 51 min ago
Electromagnetic pedals you say? Call the witch finder general!
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49 comments
I think it's fair enough to take someone at their word that they suffer from PTSD, but letting them be in control of 2 tonnes of speeding metal in a situation where they are likely to get sudden loud noises such as car horns, emergency vehicles etc. is not a wise choice.
Fair enough.
Totally agree!
Not if they are using it in mitigation, they really should need to prove that it has been diagnosed. Otherwise, anyone could make up any excuse as to why they tried to run someone over, etc., it needs no basis in reality, like "dropped out of the sky like a sack of spuds" or "the sun was in my eyes"... Oh
I'll refer you to IanMK's post - PTSD is not so much a mitigation, but a condition (self diagnosed or not) that must be reported to the DVLA if it will affect your driving. I think these kinds of medical issues should result in longer driving bans just purely on safety grounds.
I agree 100%. The process is already in place for epilepsy, so why is it not the same for other conditions that do (or could) render someone unsafe to control heavy machinery in inherently dangerous situations (i.e. drive)
As his defence has used his PTSD to excuse his atrocious driving I trust he reported it to the DVLA
I never knew that. Recently been diagnosed with PTSD by a professor of psychology, been this way for years, thought it was normal.
I'm not disappointed with the lack of jail time I am disappointed with the apparent lack of community service and extremely disappointed with the 1 year ban. The driver clearly has anger management issues, may well have ongoing mental health issues and has shown that he doesn't have the temperament to be in charge of a motor vehicle. I would like to see this addressed before he's allowed behind the wheel again.
Well, he's clearly not a danger unless he's driving a car, which he obviously 100% will not do while banned from driving, right? Of course he won't.
And another useless "extended re-test" to demonstrate he can hold his aggression back for a few hours while an examiner is with him.
Indeed - for the most part I don't actually think that the majority of drivers are incapable of driving to a competent standard, I just don't think they give a flying f**k because no-one is watching and they wont realistically get caught, or when they do, face a particularly meaningful punishment! Indeed, this is much the same reason why there appear to be a not insignificant number of motorists that drive without insurance, MOT and a licence.
A seemingly strange decision by the judge, but presumably he'd seen the evidence in the reports which we don't have the benefit of.
Not sure that the prosecutor was up to the job, if she's being quoted correctly:
"Prosecuting, Leigh Hart said after the pair became "enthralled" in an argument the cyclist had stood in front of the vehicle.
"Some verbal words were exchanged and the defendant ended up driving away, resulting in [the victim] being carried on the bonnet for about three car lengths."
Very strange use of the word "enthralled" and as for "verbal words" words fail me.
The reason I doubt that she might actually have used those words is that the online report from This Is Wiltshire, says that Al-Rawi was both driving the car and riding the bike.
I'm assuming "enthralled" was actually "embroiled" when it left the lips of the prosecutor...
Important to make it clear that they weren't passing notes to each other. (Or exchanging comments on the internet...)
Edit: My comment has already been made by Flâneur, Where's the delete option?
Very important to make it clear they weren't slagging each other using BSL or indeed semaphore...
That sounds like a Monty Python sketch
Ah man - using a car for no other reason than to intimidate another person/ as a weapon, commit a dangerous driving offence and yet somehow the guy still doesn't actually pose a danger to the public?
That is some incredible mental gymnastics by Mr Parkes QC there!
Cyclists are clearly not "the public" eh
Sub-public maybe?
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