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Sun in the Sands roundabout, London (Google Maps)Driver who “tried to scare cyclist” but ended up running him over jailed for using car as “highly dangerous weapon”
A driver who used his car as a “highly dangerous weapon” to run over a cyclist in a road rage incident, leaving him with life-changing injuries, has been jailed for 18 months in order “to deter similar attacks”.
62-year-old Richard Caseby was cycling back to his home on a Saturday morning in January last year, when the driver of a Vauxhall Corsa almost hit him at the Sun in the Sands roundabout on the A2 in Blackheath, London.
Once he drew level with the driver at a traffic light, Caseby, a former managing editor of The Sunday Times and The Sun, asked him politely “to keep an eye open for cyclists as I’d had a narrow escape”, but the driver swore at him and said, “F*** off or I’ll f*** you”.
As soon as both of them set off, Caseby said that he was carried along on the bonnet of Georgiou’s car, which hit the kerb, throwing him against a brick wall. He suffered serious fractures to his left leg and ankle and a damaged shoulder.
The driver, Marios Georgiou, 52, has now been sentenced by the Woolwich Crown Court to 18 months in prison. The Times reports that Judge Philip Shorrock told the driver: “You used your car as the equivalent of a highly dangerous weapon, albeit you intended to scare him.”
He said a jail sentence was required to “deter you or anyone else from behaving that way in the future”.
Georgiou claimed that he was only trying to scare Caseby, who he feared would damage his car as another cyclist had left a dent after punching the vehicle during a confrontation five weeks earlier. He claimed as a result of hitting Caseby he now suffers from anxiety and depression and is being assessed for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Caseby suffered a broken left leg and ankle in three places and spent months on crutches, having to learn to walk again. A year on, he still suffers permanent pain and walks with a stick and a permanent limp and has been diagnosed with PTSD.
He told the court: “Marios Georgiou mowed me down in his car and left me with life-changing injuries.
“The attack has destroyed my basic fitness and dreams of an active retirement with my wife and friends. My orthopaedic consultant told me that my injuries are truly ‘life-changing’. In short, I will never be the same again.”
Caseby, who used to cycle “everywhere”, said: “Drivers are in a lethal weapon and if they lose their temper for a moment, they can kill you. I knew when I was clinging to the bonnet that if I let go, I would fall under the wheels and be killed.”
The lawyer in mitigation, said Georgiou admitted the offences on the basis that he did not intend to injure Caseby but intended only to “scare” him.
Georgiou, a barber from Kent, declined to give evidence. He has been jailed for 18 months after admitting maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm shortly before the start of his trial last month.
He has received a nine-month concurrent sentence for dangerous driving. He has also been banned from driving for two years and nine months and ordered to take an enhanced driving test before being allowed back on the road.
Adwitiya joined road.cc in 2023 as a news writer after graduating with a masters in journalism from Cardiff University. His dissertation focused on active travel, which soon threw him into the deep end of covering everything related to the two-wheeled tool, and now cycling is as big a part of his life as guitars and football. He has previously covered local and national politics for Voice Wales, and also likes to writes about science, tech and the environment, if he can find the time. Living right next to the Taff trail in the Welsh capital, you can find him trying to tackle the brutal climbs in the valleys.
Latest Comments
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60 comments
Agreed. This is great to see. The language used in the sentencing makes clear his intent. What a complete moron driver who frankly should be banned for driving for life.
Clearly mentally unfit to ever hold a driving licence if capable of claiming such a provocation as mitigation for an act of extreme violence!
Honestly this is such a depressing read.. 'I only meant to scare him' as I drove into him with him on my bonnet up a curb and towards a wall.. ' FOR FUCKS SAKE.
Life changing injuries.
The law of this land is fucked.
'I only meant to scare him' as I drove into him with him on my bonnet up a curb and towards a wall.. '
It is necessary to point out that offenders must be allowed to defend themselves, no matter how stupid the comment. I can't see anything to suggest that anyone paid any attention to such tripe.
Except:
"Judge Philip Shorrock told the driver: “You used your car as the equivalent of a highly dangerous weapon, albeit you intended to scare him.”
It's not really the law, which is doing something positive here (albeit with caveats).
It's the widespread cultural values that let people think they are permitted to do violent things like this. Lifetime ban required (and enforced). Make the bully walk.
"widespread cultural values"
That's a good one. I think if you looked around you'd see Woke idiots across this country are currently doing their very best to destroy any semblance of its culture. One violent lunatic in a car is not an example of a cultural value.
Whereas the fascists...
Which Fascists?
The ones demanding lockdowns, vaccines, masks, insisting on banning their version of 'misinformation', banning protest, arresting people for Faceboook posts, etc.?
Troll off.
You really are a right Nigel aren't you.
Whereas the Trolls...
Still going with the misinformation on the Facebook arrest.
Except it isn't ONE violent lunatic, is it?
Oh, but, but, but, he has suffered anxiety and PTSD since...
best ensure he is never triggered by being behind the wheel of car in proximity to cyclists ever again. Lifetime ban.
"Georgiou claimed that he was only trying to scare Caseby, who he feared would damage his car as another cyclist had left a dent after punching the vehicle during a confrontation five weeks earlier."
Sounds like the driver has form for putting cyclists lives at risk!
“You used your car as the equivalent of a highly dangerous weapon, albeit you intended to scare him.”
1. It is a deadly weapon, no equivalent about it.
2. He didn't intend to scare him.
Eighteen months for attempted murder?
Attempted Murder requires proof of intent. The defendant claims his intent was to scare the victim not kill them (or even hurt them), so unless the prosecution can prove otherwise, there is no way that charge is getting anywhere near a courtroom.
Point taken, but it's a bit like the Parliamentary Standards Committee not knowing what was in Boris's mind when he lied: the fact was that he lied. In this case, the driver used his car as a weapon against a defenceless individual, but we don't know what was in his mind, so it can't be attempted murder. I beg to differ.
If you drive a car at someone you aren't trying to scare them, you're trying to cause serious injury or death: you don't need to know what's in their mind, their actions clearly display what their intent is.
He claimed as a result of hitting Caseby he now suffers from anxiety and depression and is being assessed for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Yet another example of the now-routine attempt by the shyster lawyer to portray the violent offender as a hapless victim.
We're gonna need a bigger violin.
This is the only one playing for this driver.
Oh come on.
Everyone is entitled to a defence.
Don't blame the defence brief. Blame the shit state of the law and the sentencing guidelines around dangerous driving.
The defence is supposed to be the truth which in this case is he is not suffering anxiety, depression and ptsd as a result of the incident but as a result of it going to court, not the same thing at all.
I'm only surprised he's not claiming for the damage to his car.
When I worked in insurance many moons ago (so long ago, in fact, that all the companies had hundreds of local offices across the country and employed local versions of every role they needed), our loss adjuster had a good expression for that (presumably widely used in the industry) ..
... the author of their own misfortune!
Maybe so, but the punishment is still a joke.
Well done Judge Shorrock. Can we clone him and install him elsewhere?
"He has also been banned from driving for two years and nine months and ordered to take an enhanced driving test before being allowed back on the road"
If a gamekeeper fired "warning" shots over someones head, they would never be permitted a shotgun licence again, yet this is the equivalent of that gamekeeper actually shooting someone yet the still get a gun licence back all be it they have some hoops to jump through first
We're often told there are too many drivers on the road and too much traffic. How about lifetime bans for incidents like this or for totting up twelve points?
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