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PostPosted: Wed Mar 29, 2023 7:51 pm 
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Single punch from Weymouth taxi driver leaves pensioner with life-changing injuries

A taxi driver has been jailed for a brutal one-punch attack which left a pensioner with a brain bleed and life-changing injuries. Robert Leslie Hathway, 46, appeared at Bournemouth Crown Court today (March 26) to be sentenced for inflicting grievous bodily harm.

On March 25, 2022, private hire driver Hathway was driving along Weymouth’s Newberry Road in a work van when he stopped by the side of the road to check directions. Fellow motorist Peter Walker drove by and gestured at Hathway, of Hillcrest Road in Weymouth, angered by his van which was blocking the road.

Mr Walker, aged 76, tapped on Hathway’s vehicle through an open window, to indicate his frustration, and pulled over a short distance down the road, to check Hathway’s vehicle and potentially report him. The 76-year-old then noticed Hathway get out of the van and start running towards him.

Hathway approached Mr Walker’s car and punched him once in the face in what defence barrister Thomas Evans described as a moment of impulsive rage. This single punch, however, did serious damage to the elderly man, who was still sat in the drivers seat.

Mr Walker was rushed to hospital with a laceration and bruising to his face, but after being discharged his family noticed him slurring his words and becoming confused. The court heard, from prosecutor Tom Wright, who explained that the 76-year-old noticed a decline in his cognitive functions.

A CT scan revealed that the man Hathway had punched had developed a bleed on his brain, which required drainage surgery in April to relieve the pressure.

“Regrettably,” Mr Wright said, “The long term consequences are likely to remain. The surgery left an indentation on his skull and it was noted there remained a 10% chance of more surgery being needed.”

A statement from Mr Walker, read out in court, said: “I spent a week in Dorset County Hospital after this incident, it frightened the life out of my daughters as I was getting less and less responsive.

“I was not responding to more and more things they told me. I was moved to Southampton Hospital due to a bleed on the brain which needed an operation. I lay in a semi conscious state and don’t remember the journey there.

“After returning home from my stay in hospital, my speech, handwriting, balance and confidence had been affected. My fitness has deteriorated. I’m not confident about being out and about on my own. I also struggle with remembering things like people’s names, the names of roads.”

Mr Wright added that the victim had lost his driver’s licence and much of his independence as a result of Hathway’s inability to control his anger.

Defending, Mr Evans admitted that while the incident was in no way self defence, there was an element of provocation by the 76-year-old, and said Hathway expressed “deep remorse” for what had happened, acknowledging that he caused it.

He said, attempting to sway the judge to suspend a prison sentence: “It was an extremely unfortunate incident, but it was a single blow with no use of a weapon. Him being imprisoned would effectively render his family homeless at a time when his daughter is approaching her GCSEs.”

Her Honour Judge Evans KC handed Hathway a 14 month prison sentence, and declined to suspend it. She said: “There is strong mitigation here and there would be a serious impact on the family.

“Regrettably, these factors are outweighed in my view and an appropriate punishment can only be achieved through immediate custody. Mr Walker was obviously an older man, you are a man some 30 years younger.

“When you physically attack an older person you take the risk of causing significant damage and that’s what you did with your single but significant punch.”

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PostPosted: Wed Mar 29, 2023 10:39 pm 
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Quote:
On March 25, 2022, private hire driver Hathway was driving along Weymouth’s Newberry Road in a work van


Keh ? is "work van" a euphemism for a PH minibus ?

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PostPosted: Fri Mar 31, 2023 1:24 pm 
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That's precisely what I was thinking, Edders, and to that extent wondered if the incident was actually job, or whether it was unrelated but he just happened to be badged - the article doesn't specifically say.

He could have been a tradesman in a 'works van' (works van rather than work van sounds a bit more like a proper van used by a tradesman), and maybe just a part-time driver.

On the other hand, here in NE Fife it's not uncommon to hear multi-seater taxis referred to as a 'van', particularly those more van-like in appearance, or one derived from a van (like the old VW Caravelle or Transporter).

For example, "I had some American golfers in the van last night", or "I've got an airport run booked for the van later on".

So 'van' might be local parlance for a multi-seater taxi in the area where the incident happened.

A 'people carrier' or MPV is called a minivan in the USA, so hardly a surprise if that was shortened simply to van.

Seat describes its Alhambra people carrier as a minivan here:

https://www.seat.com/seat-cars/minivans


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PostPosted: Fri Mar 31, 2023 7:19 pm 
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to be fair I was always correcting my customers for referring to the 8 seater as a van

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