Woman driver pulled mother from car and battered her in front of baby
A WOMAN motorist repeatedly punched another mother in the head in a road rage attack while their babies were in the back seats of their cars, a court heard.
Fatima Festus, 22, shouted ‘My ****ing child is in the back of my car’ then dragged Amilia Luby out of her blue BMW after blaming her for nearly causing an accident, magistrates were told.
The court heard she subjected Miss Luby to a ‘sustained’ and ‘scary’ attack, raining down punches and giving her a black eye, a cut to the lip and bruises on her head.
Festus later claimed the incident was a ‘bit of a blur’ and that she was ‘scared something might have happened’ to her sixmonth-old baby. She admitted assault but escaped jail after chairman of the bench Simon Morrell said it was a ‘spontaneous attack’.
The incident happened at 2.50pm on June 16 last year as Miss Luby drove with a passenger and her month-old son through Didsbury, in Manchester.
Marion Nolan, prosecuting, told Manchester magistrates’ court Miss Luby had pulled out to turn left when Festus ‘ overtook her and cut in front’. She said her client had to ‘ slam on the brakes’ to avoid a collision before they both came to a stop and Festus got out of her car.
She said: ‘As she approached Amilia she shouted, “My f***ing child is in the back of my car!” She then opened Amilia’s car door and grabbed the top of her head and dragged her out of the car.
‘She then punched Amilia to the head and face. It happened so quickly that the complainant can’t remember if she retaliated.’ Miss Luby’s passenger was punched in the stomach trying to stop the attack, she added.
Robert Moussalli, defending, suggested that Miss Luby had pulled out in front of his client who, he said, felt very protective over the safety of her young child, her first born. He said: ‘She says she didn’t really think about what she was going to do and had no idea what she was thinking of. She remembers opening the car door and shouting and after that it became a bit of a blur.
‘She can’t explain why she did it just that she was scared something might have happened to her young baby. She has been very upset about the whole thing and is currently four months pregnant. ‘She understands that this shouldn’t have happened and she wishes she had acted in a different way.’ He added: ‘This is extremely out of character for this defendant. Clearly none of what I say excuses this and Fatima knows that and deeply regrets everything that happened that day.’
Miss Nolan said: ‘Amilia sustained swelling to her right temple, swelling and bruising to her right eye, a lump on her head, a small cut to the lip, a bruise on her elbow and a cut to her other elbow.
‘She has been suffering since the attack and says she is too scared to leave the house.’
Festus, of Burnage, Manchester, was sentenced to a 12-month community order on Friday and was ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid work. She was also ordered to pay Miss Luby £200 and pay £235 in costs and surcharges.
Mr Morrell told her: ‘This was a road rage incident, plain and simple and it was super dangerous. Not only was there a child in the other car but there was also a young child in your car.
‘You subjected this woman to a sustained attack and the ordeal must have been scary for her. The only mitigating factor is your remorse and the fact that this was a spontaneous attack.’
‘It became a bit of a blur’