ROAD RAGE THUG WHO BEAT UP DISABLED MOTORIST
JUDGE JAILS DAD-OF-FOUR FOR BRUTAL ATTACK ON INNOCENT DRIVER
A VIOLENT bully who lost his temper with a disabled driver and beat him up after a collision on a busy city roundabout has been jailed.
Lewis Cifaldi’s eight-year-old son was with him in the car when he vented his anger on the victim, delivering numerous kicks and punches, a court heard.
At one stage, both motorists were on the ground, with the injured man’s wife begging father-of-four Cifaldi to stop attacking her husband, who had a spinal disability and was bleeding from his mouth.
The court heard Cifaldi had a previous conviction for another road rage attack, when he headbutted a bus driver in 2015.
The latest shocking incident happened on Leicester’s Red Hill roundabout, near Birstall, at midday on Wednesday, July 31, 2019.
Jonathan Eley, prosecuting, said the victim was in the outside lane when he suddenly noticed on his inside the defendant’s car, which then collided with the side and front of his vehicle.
The disabled man told police he believed Cifaldi was on a mobile phone, Leicester Crown Court heard.
Mr Eley said: “The defendant immediately got out and kicked the complainant’s door two or three times before opening it and punching him in the face, shouting, ‘Come on, I will kill you.’ Cifaldi then pulled him out of the car and punched him to the face, dragging him to the rear of the car, and kicked him in the chest area.
“He punched his face, causing his lip to split and bleed, and in the struggle they both fell to the floor.
“The man’s wife was shouting to leave him alone.
“He told Cifaldi a number of times he was disabled, and it made no difference whatsoever.”
The arrival of other motorists prompted Cifaldi, of Perth Avenue, New Parks, Leicester, to stop the attack, and he drove off, with his son in the front passenger seat.
Cifaldi’s black Astra was traced to his address, and when the police arrived his partner “tried to tell the police he was not home”, said Mr Eley.
Officers went around the back and caught Cifaldi scaling a 6ft fence as he tried to escape.
The victim, a registered disabled car user and blue badge holder, suffered cuts, swelling and bruising, and had to pay £500 to have one of his teeth surgically removed and replaced with a false one, the court was told.
In an interview with police, 31-year-old Cifaldi told officers he was taking his eight-year-old son to McDonald’s and blamed the victim for the collision and violence. However, on the day of his trial at Leicester Magistrates’ Court in November, when the victim and witnesses all turned up to give evidence, Cifaldi changed his plea to guilty to causing actual bodily harm and the case was committed to the crown court for sentence.
Mr Eley said the defendant’s criminal record included a 2015 battery offence, when he headbutted a bus driver in front of passengers during a road rage incident, for which he received a community order.
Michael Garvey, mitigating, said references spoke well of Cifaldi, including a letter from his current partner, who had attended court, and “a brief note” from the mother of his older children saying “he’s a good father and a good provider”.
He said Cifaldi no longer stood by the “gloss” in his pre-sentence report, in which he had claimed he was not guilty, and accepted he had punched the victim and also kicked him to the torso area, which was “inexcusable”.
Mr Garvey said: “It pains him to think of being away from his family. It will leave his partner and children without support.”
Sentencing Cifaldi to 22 months in jail, Judge Philip Head told him: “You’re a violent bully who will resort to significant violence when you feel wrongly done by and you’re someone who hasn’t learnt by your previous offending and the court’s leniency towards you.”
The judge said the defendant gave a “lying version of events” to a probation officer during the preparation of his pre-sentence report, which Cifaldi no longer stood by.
Judge Head also told Cifaldi: “You collided with this man’s car and totally lost your temper.
“This was a sustained attack on a particularly vulnerable victim.
“It’s had an ongoing effect on him, physically and mentally.
“Your actions are made worse because he was disabled.
“All this was within the sight and sound of your own young child – and when the police came to your home you tried to escape.
“It’s quite impossible to suspend the sentence.”
You collided with this man’s car and totally lost your temper. This was a sustained attack
Judge Head