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Justice (Lonpicman, Wikimedia Commons)Suspended sentence for Sheffield taxi driver who drove at cyclist and "caused her to fall"
A Sheffield taxi driver has avoided a prison sentence after he drove at a cyclist in a 'moment of madness' and “caused her to fall off.”
The Star reports that at around 9am on January 26 last year, Iftikhar Ahmed was driving up Ecclesall Road when a cyclist riding in front indicated that she was about to overtake a bus which had pulled up at a stop.
Deploying a somewhat bizarre choice of words, Recorder Keir Monteith told Ahmed: "The taxi you were driving drove forward and blocked her away around the bus. She said that was in spite of the traffic in front of you."
The cyclist hit the near side passenger window to speak to Ahmed, said Monteith. “You opened the window and shouted something aggressive, and she was very frank with the police, and this court, in saying she called you a psycho."
At this point both the bus and the cyclist began to move off, but Ahmed, drove straight at the cyclist in what Monteith described as a 'moment of madness'.
The cyclist, who suffered a sprained wrist, grazing to her knees and bruising to her hip, told police she fell because Ahmed hit her.
Ahmed pleaded guilty to dangerous driving on the basis that he did not physically hit her, but caused her to fall and injure herself by driving towards her.
Jeremy Barton, defending, said: "This defendant behaved, and drove, in the most dreadful way. He's lost his licence. He's lost his licence to drive as a taxi driver.
"He has suffered significant stress as a result of his own stupidity. He has suffered, his family have suffered, which he accepts is his own doing."
Monteith said he would 'reluctantly' suspend Ahmed's prison sentence, on the basis of Barton’s mitigation.
He therefore sentenced Ahmed to 15 months in prison suspended for two years and ordered him to complete 280 hours of unpaid work as well as a 15-day rehabilitation activity requirement through the Better Drivers programme.
In addition to this, Ahmed was banned from driving for 18 months and will be obliged to take an extended driving test before getting back behind the wheel.
Monteith added: "Luckily, she was wearing a helmet. I want you to pause and think about how horrendous this could have been for her, and then you, if she wasn't wearing a helmet. Fortunately she was, and the helmet took most of the impact."
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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20 comments
Ho hum I’m a lawyer and cycle around 3000 commuting miles a year. Still gobsmacked at the routine ignorance of comments on snippets of reporting on sentencing exercises by judges. I know, you’ve a thumbs and you can post your feelings online. Bless.
So, is that the most insightful comment you can post, using your specific areas of expertise?
He's probably not a real lawyer.
Or perhaps simply unwilling to offer anything insightful until you've paid a hefty fee.
Kindly post your firm so that I can avoid using them.
Ho hum, so as a lawyer, who cycles around 3000 commuting miles a year, are you still gobsmacked at the sentences imposed and would you like it if someone deliberately attacked you with a 1 ton weapon but avoided a jail sentence because they lost their job?
Let's keep this in proportion. The driver didn't get let off. The cycling public is protected because he is off the road for longer than he might have spent in prison. It will take a long time before he could get a cab driving licence again (if ever). He might even have to use a bike himself to get around - that would change his perspective. The extended driving test might even make him a better driver when the time comes.
Personally, I am happy to reserve prison for those, especially the repeat offenders, who kill and seriously injure with their poor driving
The public would have been protected for longer had he gone to prison.
You only want to measure the actual outcome rather than the intent and likely outcome?
Presumably of Chinese ancestry? I've checked the solicitors registry and no-one of that name is there, so are you perhaps a QC?
No words of regret for his actions or on what those did to the victim, only on the effects on him on getting caught and the legal ramifications because of it.
She might have called the psychopath thing right.
Jeremy Barton, defending, said: "This defendant behaved, and drove, in the most dreadful way. He's lost his licence. He's lost his licence to drive as a taxi driver.
So if I commit a crime in a "moment of madness", I d'know defraud my company, I can get away without custodial cos they sacked me?
Hmmmm
"He has suffered significant stress as a result of his own stupidity. He has suffered"
Bless him, the poor dear.
The mind boggles. She lands on her hip, but the helmet takes most of the impact? He 'reluctantly' suspended the prison sentence based on the lawyer's mitigation? He's the judge ffs - he has the authority to either consider or not consider the mitigation - if he's 'reluctant' about suspending the sentence, he should t fucking do it!!
He is actually a recorder which is like having a medical student performing open heart surgery. Hence the shit show of his opening and closing statements and the pathetic sentence because the defence said he had hurt himself as much as her.
No it isn't. It is more like a surgeon doing open heart surgery. He will be fully qualified and experienced solicitor or barrister who will also have been trained for the role. It just they are not usually fully time appointments.
There's no comment in the article whether or not the cyclists struck her head, only the injuries that she did suffer.
Who knows the exact circumstances?
Considering that the judge sat through the proceedings and then made the statement I'd guess that they have a better idea than a load of ransoms on a cycling forum. The cyclists may have struck her helmeted head but not received any injury.
After all, although a helmet isn't going to stop you getting squashed by a truck or mangled in a high speed incident, these slow speed incidents are really what helmets offer the best protection to, and such incidents do occur and do cost lives. Just think back to news articles where a single punch fight results in brain injury, not because the punch was particularly powerful but because the victim fell and struck their head on the floor.
and then
Well okay then...
If she hadn't been wearing that helmet, she could've broken her hip!
Thank you for saving me the trouble of pointing out the excrutiating contortions of the recorder in allowing a vicious attacker with a deadly weapon to avoid a richly deserved stretch at her majesty's pleasure.
It doesn’t matter that her injuries were minor he still did what he did. It is about time the legal system started to treat incidents like this more seriously.
Quite. We keep hearing in cases of severe injury or death that the results don't matter, it was the actual offence that they are sentenced on, then, when someone isn't injured seriously, it does somehow ameliorate the gravity of the illegal behaviour. Funny system that only works one way to excuse drivers.