A man who screamed at a female driver has avoided jail and has been told to attend an anger management course.
Peter Abbott, 60, got out of his car and launched the verbal assault against Samantha Isaacs, 56, outside a Tesco petrol station in Bournemouth, Dorset, after she beeped at him for pulling out in front of her on August 25 last year.
In a video he can be heard screaming ‘f*** tart’, ‘slag’ and ‘whore’ before another man intervened.
He told Abbott ‘What is wrong with you? It’s a woman on her own.’ But Abbott replied: ‘She’s a f**king bloody annoying woman’.
During the trial, Robert Salame, prosecuting, read out a victim impact statement from Ms Isaacs that said: ‘I don’t trust any motorist now, I feel my confidence in driving has taken a huge knock.
‘I am now turning away work that is further afield. I keep my doors always locked, I never drive unless I really must, I am so angry the man has taken my job pleasure away from me, I am angry that I am scared all the time when I drive.’
Abbott avoided jail at Poole Magistrates Court and blamed his temper on being ‘isolated’ due to his work as a translator and accepted he needed to work on his anger.
Representing himself, he said: ‘I have been isolated for quite a long while, this is mainly due to the nature of my work, I am a translator, I spend days and weeks holed up in my apartment in front of the computer.
‘So progressively over the 12 years I have been back in the UK I have noticed my relationships with people have diminished to the point where I didn’t have any contact with friends or family.
‘I have always expressed regret and remorse for my part in the incident and fully hold my hands up to that and realise it was wrong and I am prepared to accept the consequences of that behaviour.’
The court heard a personal reference for Abbott from a friend described him as ‘a peaceful, introverted and bookish person’.
Sentencing Abbott, District Judge Austin said: ‘I take the view this was an extremely serious matter.
‘Ms Isaacs was a lone female in her car, this was a sustained incident, your level of anger and aggression was extremely high, the language you used was extremely offensive and you put her in significant fear with an ongoing effect on her life.
‘Bystanders intervened, such was the level of your aggression.’
Abbott denied using threatening words or behaviour to cause alarm, distress or fear of violence but was found guilty after a trial.
He was given a 12-week prison sentence suspended for 18 months and banned from driving for 18 months and ordered to pay £300 trial costs.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
