Road rage thug loses court appeal

A ROAD rage thug who smashed another motorist’s face with a baseball bat has been told his nine-year jail term was not a day too long.

Imran Rashid, 36, tailed builder Ali Yanai and subjected him to an ordeal of “bullying” driving.

He proceeded to break Mr Yanai’s eye socket and cheekbone with a bat as the victim waited at a roundabout.

Rashid, of Woodcock Lane, Northfield, was jailed at Birmingham Crown Court in May last year. He pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent. He was also banned from driving for six and a half years.

But at London’s Criminal Appeal Court his lawyers argued his sentence and driving ban were far too tough.

The court heard Rashid began a sinister game of “cat and mouse” with his victim in December 2015. He became irate because he was delayed briefly by Mr Yanai completing a manoeuvre in his car. He followed his victim for some distance and eventually got out of his car brandishing a baseball bat.

Mr Yanai got out of his own car and managed to “usher” Rashid back to his vehicle. But soon afterwards, as the builder waited at a roundabout, Rashid approached unseen from behind.

He struck Mr Yanai a heavy blow to the side of his face with the bat through the open driver’s window of his car. He hit him several more times with the bat before Mr Yanai, who had by then got out of his car, wrestled it from him and restrained him.

Mr Yanai had to undergo surgery to reconstruct his face.

Lawyers for Rashid argued his sentence should not have been increased on the basis that the victim was “vulnerable.”

The offence involved “a unique set of features which were unlikely to be repeated,” judges were told. It was also pointed out that, at the time, Rashid’s wife had recently told him she was divorcing him.

But, dismissing the appeal, Mr Justice Sweeney said: “The victim was defenceless in his car and couldn’t fight back. He was snuck up on from behind and didn’t see it coming.”

The judge, sitting with Lord Justice Simon and Judge Jeffrey Pegden QC, also dismissed the appeal against the driving ban, saying it was “right in principle”.