A cyclist left for dead by a motorist who used his car as a weapon today said a 30-month prison sentence was too lenient.
Father-of-three Craig Perrott, 61, was almost killed when Abdool Choonka crushed him against a parked car in a residential road marked as a cycle route in Tooting. Choonka, 70, who was driving a 4×4 Lexus, was convicted of causing serious injury by dangerous driving at Kingston crown court last month.
Judge Anne Brown sentenced him last Wednesday to 30 months in jail, plus three months concurrent for criminal damage, and disqualified him for driving for four years and three months.
The jury acquitted Choonka of a more serious charge of GBH with intent. Judge Brown said Choonka, who showed no remorse, had “used his car as a weapon effectively”.
Craig Perrott with his partner Joyce Harvie
Mr Perrott, a care worker, and his partner Joyce Harvie, said in a statement to the Evening Standard afterwards: “We believe the sentence to be too lenient and [that it] does not fit the crime. Craig is unable, and will never be able, to do what he could do before Mr Choonka used his car as a ‘weapon’ to assault him, after he had narrowly missed him the first time.”
The court heard that Mr Perrott, who had been cycling in London for 33 years, remonstrated with Choonka when he pulled out of a junction and nearly hit him as he cycled in Stapleton Road, Tooting, on June 14 last year.
Mr Perrott, who had dismounted, was then hit by the car and crushed against a parked BMW. Choonka drove off but returned to take pictures of Mr Perrott as he lay critically injured on the ground. Choonka did not call an ambulance. He told the court he had no idea why the car had moved forward.
Mr Perrott was taken to St George’s Hospital, Tooting, where he underwent two operations to keep him alive. He was transferred to St Thomas’s hospital, Lambeth, six days later to be placed on an ECMO life-support machine.
He was fitted with four titanium ribs and a titanium pelvis to replace obliterated bones. Mr Perrott spent 17 weeks in three hospitals and remains in chronic pain. He has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression and is unable to work. He is pursuing a civil compensation claim against Choonka’s insurers.
In a victim impact statement read out in court, Mr Perrott said: “It feels like it’s ruined my life. More than once it’s made me want to end my life … It was an act of needless aggression.”
Ms Harvie, who has given up a job in the City to become Mr Perrott’s carer, said: “What continues to cause huge and unnecessary stress is the defendant’s refusal to take responsibility. Our lives now consist of trying to put a broken man back together on a daily basis.”
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