9:00am Thursday 18th March 2010
A teenage motorist driving through a red light hit a pedestrian so hard with the wing mirror of his car that it fell off.
And Benjamin Marks then assaulted one of the man’s friends in a scuffle at the side of the road while his passenger stabbed the initial victim three times.
Now Marks, 19, has been jailed for two months and banned from the road for nine months by a judge at Swindon Crown Court.
But the sentences will have little affect as the prison term runs alongside a two-year sentence imposed on Marks last December for robbery.
Though he could be freed in July on home detention curfew he will only be sure of early release in November, at the halfway point of the sentence, when the driving ban will only have one month left to run.
Marks, of Poplar Avenue, Pinehurst, had initially pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving and common assault.
But before a jury could be sworn in on the first day of his trial he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of careless driving and also admitted the assault as well as driving without a licence or insurance.
The court was told that he had been behind the wheel of a Ford Ka on Nythe Road in Covingham on October 10 when Luke Sharman was on a pedestrian crossing.
Andrew Hobson, defending, said although the light was red his client went through it and his wing mirror struck Mr Sharman.
He said Marks then assaulted Tom Eastman, one of Mr Sharman’s friends, in a scuffle which took place after he stopped the car and got out.
Mr Hobson said his client was jailed for two years in December last year and was not due for release until November 17, though he could be free on tag on July 6.
Passing sentence Judge Charles Wade said: “There was evidence of erratic and fast driving on this night.
“Although I accept you did not deliberately drive at Mr Sharman you were certainly carelessly driving across the crossing when the lights were against you, they were red, causing Mr Sharman to jump out of the way but not quickly enough to avoid you colliding with him.
“It was not just a glancing blow, the wing mirror fell off.”
Nicolae Byfield, 20, was also due to face trial but changed his plea to admit wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. He was the passenger in the car and jumped out of the vehicle and stabbed Mr Sharman three times with a piece of metal.
Byfield, of Castleton Road, Ramleaze, had already pleaded guilty to possessing an offensive weapon and was remanded in custody while the probation service compiles a report.
The judge warned him: “You are facing a significant period of imprisonment.”
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