Driving incident led to CS spray attack
A DRIVER has avoided prison after he sprayed another motorist with CS gas in Runcorn.
Daniel Matasaru, 34, of Withers Avenue, discharged the noxious substance against Runcorn dad Simon Jones as he was sat in his car shortly after the defendant’s Volkswagen (VW) Polo had clipped Mr Jones’s Ford Focus.
Peter Hussey, opening the prosecution at Chester Crown Court on Tuesday, said trouble flared after Mr Jones had parked at Sandymoor School on Wharford Lane in Runcorn on the evening of Friday, February 16.
The VW Polo had been ‘circling’ inside the car park, which Mr Jones thought was ‘ridiculous’, and so Mr Jones moved his own car to park on the street.
When the Polo emerged, it hit the rear bumper of his parked Focus.
Mr Hussey said ‘there seemed to be the beginning of some confrontation, and Mr Jones began to leave his car to obtain the driver’s details but the Polo drove off’.
A witness to the collision provided what he said were the Polo’s details to Mr Jones, who thought they were wrong and therefore, after dropping off his young child, headed back to the school where he encountered Matasaru again.
This time the defendant ‘turned aggressive’ and walked over to the Ford Focus, pulled out a CS canister and sprayed it through the half-open driver’s window in a ‘side to side fashion’.
When Mr Jones shouted that he was going to call the police, Matasaru replied ‘that’s fine’ then came back and sprayed him again.
Although he suffered no long-lasting effects or injury, the complainant said the substance made ‘face and eyes tingle and sting’.
Police arrested Matasaru at the scene and a search of his car revealed it was carrying a multifunction tool containing a lock knife with a long enough blade to be classified illegal.
In interview, he said he had bought the CS spray for £10 in his homeland Romania and both the spray and the knife were for his protection.
Mr Hussey said Matasaru said he did not know they were illegal, adding that he carried the knife ‘for many years and would use it if anyone came at him with a knife’.
In police interview, the defendant claimed the other motorist had been ‘shouting’ at him and said he ‘felt threatened’, so he ‘approached the vehicle and sprayed the CS spray into his eyes’.
He later pleaded guilty to discharging a noxious substance at a person, having a prohibited weapon, having a bladed article in public, careless driving and failing to stop.
Lloyd Morgan, defending, said his client had an ‘impeccable’ record with no previous convictions, a bachelor’s degree, a history of hard-work in telecommunications and had a job to go to – his supervisor having retained his post despite the defendant trying to resign when charged.
He added that Matasaru, who was ‘young’ and ‘educated’, had been in the course of seeing his doctor for depression and anxiety around the time of the incident and was struck by ‘paranoia’ when he saw the lights of the other vehicle and reacted as he did.
He said the defendant ‘bitterly regrets’ his actions and has not been in trouble with ● the law before or since.
Recorder Mark Rhind, presiding judge, sentenced Matasaru to 10 months in prison over the CS spray and four months consecutive for carrying a bladed article, both suspended for two years.
He imposed 12 points for the driving offences and banned the defendant from driving for six months.
In addition, he ordered £1,500 in compensation to be paid to Mr Jones in 28 days.
Matasaru was also ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and a 20-day rehabilitation requirement, and was slapped with a 8pm6am curfew.
Sentencing the defendant, Recorder Rhind said: “This is something of a strange and unusual case.
“It’s difficult for me to understand what I’ve read in the presentence report and to match that with what actually happened on the night.
“I’m told you suffer from anxiety and fear about others attacking you, which was how you started following Mr Jones, don’t shake your head.
“You certainly followed Mr Jones’s car, you went to confront him, you approached him, you pulled out CS gas while he was sat in his car no threat to you, and used that as a weapon and attacked him. There must be some element of paranoia that led a relatively innocuous driving incident to spark this sort of behaviour in you.
“It’s clear that Mr Jones did nothing wrong.”