A RAGING motorist who slapped a bus driver in his cab during a road rage incident and claimed it was self-defence has been found guilty of assault.
Benjamin Johnson, of Windemere Avenue in Orford, was driving down Poplars Avenue on his way home from Aldi at around 5.30pm on April 5.
The 32-year-old tried to squeeze past a number 21 bus, which was driving in the middle of the road due to parked cars, but he ended up getting trapped.
Words were exchanged between the two drivers through their windows, then Johnson reversed, got out of his car, hit the bus's emergency door release button and climbed aboard.
He then slapped the bus driver in the face, knocking his sunglasses off, before getting back into his car and driving off.
The driver reported the assault to the police and Johnson was arrested on April 10.
He gave a no comment interview and was later charged with assault by beating and using threatening words to provoke fear or violence.
He denied both charges, despite clear CCTV footage of the incident, and he eventually claimed the driver, who had only been doing the job for 14 weeks, had leaned out of his cab and slapped him on the head, which he says provoked him.
Opening Johnson’s trial at Warrington Magistrates’ Court on Friday, senior prosecutor Ed Handley described his self-defence claim as ‘quite preposterous’ and ‘utterly absurd’.
Mr Handley added: “You had been in the comfort and safety of your own vehicle with the doors locked. How on earth can it be self-defence? It can only be retaliation.
“The truth is you totally lost it. A red mist descended and you were not thinking straight.
“The bus driver denies ever touching you, and his evidence has been unwavering under some quite difficult questioning.
“But whichever version of events is true, you went well over the line.”
Mr Handley told the court the bus driver, who was ‘undertaking his lawful employment at the time of the assault’, had taken time off work afterwards.
Defending, Jonathan Conder said the driver had agreed Johnson had the right-of-way when he had been trapped by the bus.
He said Johnson had not meant to hit the driver, only to knock his sunglasses off his head, and there was little or no contact between Johnson’s hand and the driver’s face.
He added Johnson had acted ‘in the heat of the moment’ and was ‘not totally in control’ of his behaviour.
Magistrates rejected Johnson’s self-defence claim and found him guilty of assault by beating.
The chairman added the charge of using threatening words to provoke fear or violence was ‘not proven’, so found him not guilty of it.
The case was adjourned until August 15 for sentencing to allow time for the Probation Service to prepare a pre-sentence report.
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