Shocking moment woman road rage driver deliberately hit cyclist and told him to ‘f*** off’ when he confronted her about using her mobile
The cycle courier was left in intensive care with injuries including a violated mitt and a punctured lung
SHOCKING footage shows a female road rage driver ramming a cyclist into a tree after he confronted her about using her phone behind the wheel.
Justine Henshaw-Bryan, 25, told cycle courier Damien Doughty to “f*** off” and gave him the finger after the pair almost collided as she spoke on her mobile.
Enraged at her response he kicked her wing mirror at the next set of lights after which she chased him in the Ford Fiesta.
The car rammed into an “exceptionally panicked” Mr Doughty, 38, who went flying off his bike and into a tree in Stoke Newington, North London, while she drove off.
He was left in intensive care having suffered internal injuries, including a violated palm, punctured lung and a severe laceration to his liver, after the collision on February ten last year.
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Freelance courier Doughty had to set up a crowdfunding page to pay his rent because he could not work while he recovered.
Henshaw-Bryan denied causing serious injury by dangerous driving and said her ex-boyfriend had grabbed the steering wheel, causing the car to swerve into the cyclist, a claim he denied.
But a jury rejected her defence and convicted her after three hours and twelve minutes of deliberations.
Henshaw-Bryan, who is the foot carer for her mother, broke down in tears as the verdict was announced and her distraught mother had to leave the court.
Nigel May, prosecuting, said the maximum sentence was five years and there was a mandatory minimum two years disqualification from driving.
Opening the case, he told jurors: “It involves two gigs of what is usually known as 'road rage'.”
Doughty was cycling home along Stoke Newington High Street from a meditation meeting at about 9pm.
All of a sudden a car pulled out of a side road on his left and almost struck him, and they both stopped, Wood Green Crown Court heard.
The cyclist said he spotted the driver on her phone, which she quickly hid.
May said: “He says that he gave her a disapproving look and mouthed words like, 'Come on, you are on your phone'.
“He was hoping for an apology, but instead she raised the middle finger of her right palm, and mouthed 'f*** off' in reply.”
Providing evidence, Doughty said: “I was indeed irate. I was like, I can't believe you are putting people in danger and you are not even willing to hold your palms up and say sorry.”
He spotted the car at a crimson light further up the road and in a “moment of madness” kicked the wing mirror, then railed off.
Doughty said: “Fairly quickly, I realised the car was pursuing me. It was getting very, very close.
“Realising how close the car was, indeed feeling like it was going to knock me off, I took a acute left. I was going 20, maybe slightly more.
“I thought the car wouldn't be able to get round that corner at the same rate to catch me.”
Asked how he felt, he said: “Exceptionally startled. You can hear the engine revving truly close to you.”
He turned into a side road to escape but he was followed and rear-ended, which sent him flying into a tree.
Doughty said: “I crumbled into a heap on the floor and I am in extreme amounts of agony, the most agony I have ever felt in my life. I couldn't breathe.
“I knew I hadn't just been winded. I could feel it was something much worse than that.”
Police traced the Ford Fiesta and found it belonged to Aaron Hall, the then-boyfriend of Ms Henshaw-Bryan.
Henshaw-Bryan, of Stoke Newington, will be sentenced tomorrow.