Van driver punched doctor in violent Brighton road rage attack (From The Argus)
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Van driver punched doctor in violent Brighton road rage attack
1:40pm Tuesday 30th March 2010 in
A van driver punched a doctor in the face during a violent road rage attack.
David Scourfield has been warned he could be jailed after he admitted attacking Dr Joseph Babicki in an angry confrontation in Eastern Road, Brighton.
At one point the 44-year-old’s girlfriend even tried to stop the assault by kicking her partner on the bottom.
But the violence only ended when a passerby stopped his car and pulled both men apart.
Scourfield, of Egremont Place, Brighton, who has no previous convictions, was later arrested.
At Lewes Crown Court he admitted assault causing actual bodily harm.
The court was told violence flared on the evening of October 31 2008.
Ryan Richter, prosecuting, said Dr Babicki was a passenger in a Fiat Punto being driven by his partner, Dr Madeline French, along Eastern Road at about 9.30pm.
Miss French indicated to change lane but she became aware of a silver van accelerating behind her which meant she could not complete the manoeuvre. Miss French saw the van driver was shouting and shaking his fist at her. Mr Richter said the van cut in front of the car and when it stopped at red traffic lights, Scourfield got out and walked towards the Fiat. Miss French locked her door, but Dr Babicki got out to discuss the matter with Scourfield.
Mr Richter said: “As soon as he started to approach the defendant, he was struck in the face. The two men were involved in a scuffle.”
At one stage Scourfield was seen by witnesses to hold the doctor in a head-lock and punch him in the face.
Mr Richter said: “The defendant’s female passenger was seen shouting at him and kicking the defendant on his bottom to try to stop him continuing with the assault.”
Dr Babicki needed hospital treatment for his injuries, which included a loose tooth, cuts on his lip, a damaged finger and shoulder.
Scourfield was traced by his vehicle registration number to his home. At first he denied to police he had gone out all evening and later admitted being involved in the incident but claimed he had only acted in self-defence.
Judge Richard Brown adjourned sentence until April 27 and warned Scourfield all options would be considered, including custody.
Scourfield was released on bail.
Comments(13)
davyboy
says...
3:40pm Tue 30 Mar 10
corruptive wrote:yes there are 2 sides, but you do not just walk up to someone and hold them in a headlock. there were witnesses, so i would assume that this is exactly what happened. it is strange though, that only one side of the case has been put into print. having said that, anyone who can get that stressed whilst behind the wheel, maybe shouldn't be there in the first place. why did he need to get past these doctors so quickly, when eastern road is only narrow anyway. what was his hurry? clearly something was not right in his mind.
well there's two sides to every story, and I'm sure this man must have had a good reason to punch this doctor repeatedly in the face.
Nick Brighton
says...
4:25pm Tue 30 Mar 10
corruptive
says...
4:31pm Tue 30 Mar 10
monty sidewinder
says...
6:59pm Tue 30 Mar 10
corruptive wrote:what agenda would that be then? corruptive, your stupid and inflamatory comments are all over this forum on almost every story - if any one is suffering from bowel trouble it must be you with an acute case of verbal diarrhoea. get a life mate.
Well Alison Cridland is clearly pursuing some kind of agenda here. Perhaps the van driver had acute diarrhoea, for instance, and the doctor's slow and inconsiderate driving had caused him to soil his underpants. But the article is silent on the matter.
TheInsider
says...
8:09pm Tue 30 Mar 10
Never cross a doctor and in this case he crossed two.
corruptive
says...
8:54pm Tue 30 Mar 10
TheInsider
says...
9:39pm Tue 30 Mar 10
And if you read the story you would see that Scourfield admitted the criminal offence to which there is no defence when you admit a crime. Do keep up corruptive with the stor only mitigation against sentence.
Come on corruptive, keep up with the stories and the modern world.
jon s
says...
11:02pm Tue 30 Mar 10
corruptive wrote:Looks like all your comments are fake.
Monty Sidewinder: Alison Cridland has reported on a trial and not repeated a single word made by or on behalf of the defence! It's hardly balanced journalism. It would hardly have been possible to make the piece any more one-sided. This thus makes it look like the guy succumbed to road rage for zero reason at all. You really find that credible? And now its led TheInsider to fantasize about homosexual reprisals of a sadomasochist nature! Is this really what we want in a family newspaper? We've all lost our temper at some point, and if Ms Cridland has chosen to sensationalise the story and caricature the defendant by deliberately omitting what led them to lose their rag.
The guy who beat his wife in the other article,where's his version of events? Maybe he lost his temper eh?
corruptive
says...
11:45pm Tue 30 Mar 10
fretlessbass
says...
7:48am Wed 31 Mar 10
PittaPatta
says...
9:29am Wed 31 Mar 10
fretlessbass wrote:fretlessbass I applaud your sound common sense.
What provoked the driver is utterly irrelevant. We are all subject to a thousand irritations and provacations everyday, some of which may cause us to feel anger. That anger, and how to deal with it, are our problem. We have no right to make it someonelses problem by inflicting violence on them.
You have brought this whole article into the real world and stated what should be obvious, but to many, sadly, this is not the case.
The high speed of the modern world brings about high stress levels. This leads to violence occurring in the most innocuous situations.
This is no reason to allow the aggressive side of our personality to take over and inflict pain and anguish on others.
I am afraid that a lot of this is down to parental upbringing over the generations. It has been regarded for some considerable time now, that the need to stamp out any form of fear in a child is necessary.
This is the worst form of life training.
Every hero that has ever been will always relate that it was the element of fear that gave them the courage to succeed.
I rest my case.
Nyberg
says...
10:45am Wed 31 Mar 10
fretlessbass wrote:Totally right. I regularly curse and swear at the stupidity of other drivers, but it has never, ever occurred to me to get out of my vehicle and physically attack someone!
What provoked the driver is utterly irrelevant. We are all subject to a thousand irritations and provacations everyday, some of which may cause us to feel anger. That anger, and how to deal with it, are our problem. We have no right to make it someonelses problem by inflicting violence on them.
There is NEVER a mitigating circumstance in which that sort of behaviour is acceptable. Whatever happened to self control?
People who are that agressive should be locked up for a long time, and the world might become a better place.
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corruptive says...
2:58pm Tue 30 Mar 10