Road-rage motorist drives with victim still on his bonnet
Video shows victim screaming ‘Stop!’ before police intervene
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A road rage driver who rammed a cyclist onto his bonnet has escaped an immediate spell in prison.
Ahmed Al-Rawi, 55, was caught on camera repeatedly ramming into a cyclist after having clipped the victim further down the road.
The unnamed cyclist is repeatedly heard screaming 'STOP' in the video as Al-Rawi drove two or three car lengths with him on the bonnet.
Shortly afterwards Al-Rawi is seen being dragged from his car by police during the incident in Swindon, Wiltshire, on 28 July, 2020.
The former Iraqi national was handed a 12-month prison sentence suspended by 18 months and banned from driving for a year, during a hearing at Winchester Crown Court on Friday.
Al-Rawi will also pay the victim £500 in compensation and must re-take his driving test.
However, Judge Richard Parkes QC said that the offender, who suffers post traumatic stress disorder, posed “absolutely no danger to the public” at large.
The court heard during a trial in June that after he initially clipped the cyclist victim, they and Al-Rawi had become “enthralled” in a verbal altercation.
After Al-Rawi threw the victim's electric bike out of the way of his car, the victim remained standing in front of it before Al-Rawi began to drive.
Prosecutor Leigh Hart said: "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.
“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.”
In interview, and again in trial, he said he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in Iraq, when he was tortured.
“[He] thought he was going to be attacked so wanted to go away,” Ms Hart continued.
The victim's electric bike that Al-Rawi hit and later threw away was damaged, she added.
Defence barrister Gareth James told the trial that Al-Rawi managed to escape Iraq before coming to the UK and claiming asylum.
Al-Rawi plead not guilty and claimed that he had given the cyclist 'plenty of space' – an argument the judge said the jury likely rejected.
Judge Parkes added: “Driving at someone is always dangerous and driving on once he hit your bonnet is plainly a dangerous thing to do and could have resulted in a serious injury to [the victim].
“This is clearly an offence which passes the custodial threshold.”