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@K.Coo
Last June (11th, day of the Nocturne) I was riding through Bethnal Green at 1pm, some impatient driver behind me honking and driving far too close. I looked over my shoulder, carried on, he overtook me and screeched over to the left. As I went past him he opened his window and yelled "you fucking bitch" at me.
Unimpressed, I did what anyone would have done- gave him the finger and carried on. (I'm not proud of that btw).
He pulled back out, overtook me again and stopped really suddenly, forcing me to stop behind him.
He got out of his car, walked over to me, fist raised, and grabbed the front of my coat, pulling me over my handlebars as I hadn't had time to even get off my bike.
He yelled various threats and obscenities in my face, fist raised all the time, including "I'm gonna fuck you up, I don't care if you're a girl on a bike, I'm gonna fucking kill you".
Then he went and got back in his car and drove off.
I had my phone in my pocket, and took a photo of the back of his car as he went. And there was another cyclist who'd stopped and a pedestrian on the pavement who came forward, both of whom had seen it all, asked me if I was ok, and gave me their details as I collapsed into tears and shakes.
The police said it was technically assault but he'd probably be charged with a public disorder offence- but they charged him with common assault, public disorder (using language to cause distress and alarm) and driving without due care and attention.
He pleaded 'not guilty' and the case was set to come to the Magistrates' court in October. Two days before the case, the defence applied for (and were granted) a postponement, citing insufficient time to prepare their case.
The case was rescheduled for the 23rd of January so last week I went and gave evidence.
I, and the two other independent witnesses, stood up and said exactly the same thing, with slight variations allowing for our different viewpoints of the same event.
We were all cross-examined by the defence lawyer, which was very unsettling and I hadn't been prepared for the experience at all- she accused me of lying, of asking the others to lie for me, and her case was mainly based around my cycling. As the defendant basically had no defence, they tried to build a case around my cycling being poor and him having got out of his car to tell me this.
The defence lawyer got a bit of a shock when I told the court I was a cycle instructor- she hadn't know this as it wasn't mentioned in my statement, as m statement focused on the attack and not my cycling.
Recounting the attack was very unpleasant but explaining safe cycling to the court was very satisfying- I hadn't been prepared to explain primary position and crap bike lanes but when I realised how unprepared the lawyers were, I really got into it!
The defendant was convicted of common assault and public disorder- he'll be sentenced in 2 weeks' time. It will probably be a community sentence but if he doesn't keep his appointments with the probation service between now and then it might become a custodial sentence.
The court experience was pretty stressful at the time- after the defendent had given his evidence I really thought he'd get away with it, despite me and the other witnesses being much more reliable and credible. The whole thing demonstrated how difficult it is to actually prove anything, and therefore how difficult to convict anyone of a crime (and rightly so I think).
Thought the forum might appreciate this story!