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news
Kennet and Avon canal (via Google Maps)“This is my path”: Drunk who claimed right of way on towpath and hurled racist abuse at cyclist avoids jail
A man who deliberately blocked the progress of two cyclists on a towpath, causing one to fall and racially abusing another, has been given a suspended sentence by Swindon Crown Court.
Sara Mirabassi and Luke Machin were cycling on the canal path between Bradford-on-Avon and Trowbridge on 22 July 2020 when they encountered Stephen Robert Panes, a 49-year-old with 25 previous convictions for 76 offences, reports the Wiltshire Gazette and Herald.
As they approached Panes, who was drunk at the time, on a particularly narrow section of the path, the couple asked if they could pass him.
Panes instead blocked their way, shouting “this is my path”. He also deliberately impeded other cyclists who were using the path.
> Can cyclists and pedestrians co-exist on towpaths?
Prosecutor Chris Smyth told the court that “the defendant took it that he had priority along the towpath, that cyclists should give way to him, despite the fact that they would be going faster than he was walking.
“When the pair of them asked him at least four times to move out of the way, he declined, saying it was a pedestrian right of way and that they were scaring his puppy.”
Miss Mirabassi, who was born in Iran, then attempted to pass Panes, who repeated the assertion that the path belonged to him, as “I was born here, I live here”.
> Jail for dog-walker who broke cyclist’s ribs by pushing him off his bike
When the path widened enough to pass him, Panes shouted at the cyclist to “f**k off back to your own country”. As Mr Machin rode past, Panes hit him with his arm causing Machin to fall off his bike. He was treated in hospital for cuts to his hands, elbow and bicep, as well as a “nasty” grazed knee.
Despite the defendant’s plethora of previous offences, he was only given a suspended sentence. “Society is better off if you get help for your problems,” the judge told Panes.
The two cyclists told police that since the incident they now avoid riding their bikes on the canal towpath.
After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
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19 comments
Original linked article seems to indicate he had quite a number of other sanctions that would normally really p*ss off any regular law abiding citizen if they were to receive those penalties.
Personally I would also like to see other automatic sanctions for these kinds of 'village idiots' (for want of a better term) and that would include;
(i) mandatory loss of ability to take part in any elections, we don’t want these people being part of the Brexit or UKIP/Far right voting crowd thanks.
(ii) the loss of any license to operate a motor vehicle, I mean why should you be able to control potentially murderous machinery in public with that kind of form?
(iii) tagging with home arrest and enforced nightly curfews, with auto electric shock when violated if necessary.
Might seem a little draconian, but I did stop short of suggesting castration and/or Gulags...
You're kinda missing the point - especially if you read the original story. He's in the late stages of an alcohol dependency and addiction. You can't punish him more than he's already punishing himself - he's literally killing himself slowly.
In terms of court & prison time he's probably cost more than a treatment plan would have.
I get that, and it was a bit tounge in cheek, and I do have sympathy for the circumstances that these people get them selves into. But I do not think we should tolerate the resultant behaviour and the impact it has on innocents and society. There needs to be a more pragmatic approach.
We have a simple solution for his problems - stick him in prison and get him therapy. If he reoffends then put him back in for even longer.
Please, please, PLEASE will you be kind enough to 'tolerate' Brexit?
Oh, too late, it's already happened.
Never mind - on to your next lunatic crusade.
You sound more extreme than that Garage at Large fellow...
Fascist much?
Before I bite, I'm trying to work out whether your tongue is in your cheek. This really is on teh boundaries of Poe's Law
Poster has already answered this question!
Yup, thanks!
Well, we all knew that if you kill a cyclist, you have a good chance of getting away with a suspended sentence- now we know that if you have dozens of previous convictions you will likely be let off with a suspended sentence for physical assault of cyclists. We are now waiting for news of a suspended sentence for killing 2 or more cyclists, either at the same time or separately.
This incident is NOTHING to do with the affected parties being cyclists.
This drink dependent bloke, drunk at the time, would no doubt have found something, somewhere, someone to be obnoxious to, no matter what. It's what he does.
Sometimes a cigar REALLY IS just a cigar!
Got to agree with you on this one, FB.
Yup
How did this waste of oxygen got off 51 charges?!
Might have been convictions covering multiple offences.
25 convictions for 76 offences? Yeah Mr Judge, he ain't gonna "get help for his problems"
True. Sadly I doubt banging him up would do much either, given our prisons. We're not noted for doing effective behaviour change. However neither do we just throw away the key, unlike e.g. the US. So he probably wouldn't be in for long enough either way.
So did the judge impose some 'help for his problems?' I doubt he will seek it himself.
Funnyly enough the bleeding hearts always make sure they live well away from those that need the help though.