A dad described as a ‘ticking time bomb’ threatened another driver with a screwdriver in a terrifying road rage attack.
Aaron Evans shouted ‘get out of the car’ after he cut up the Mercedes driver on his way to pick up his pregnant wife from Manchester Airport.
He then held the weapon up towards him before blocking the vehicle. As the man tried to move away, Evans, 34, ‘stabbed and slashed’ at the car, causing damage.
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Pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to threatening a person with an offensive weapon and criminal damage, he was today (Friday) handed a community order.
Manchester Crown Court heard that the man was on his way to pick up his pregnant wife from Manchester Airport on June 1 this year. At around 10.30pm he was driving along Leigh Road in Worsley, when he passed a lay-by and Evans, in a Seat Leon, pulled out close to him near to a roundabout.
Evans then cut across the Mercedes, pulled in front of him and slowed down which caused him to stop alongside him. He could see him shouting something from the window and then saw he had a screwdriver in his hand, prosecutor Thomas Sherrington said.
He could hear Evans, who had two other passengers in the car with him, shouting several times ‘Get out of the car’, before he moved the vehicle forward and blocked him in one spot.
“Mr Evans then waved his screwdriver and stabbed and slashed at the vehicle,” Mr Sherrington said. “He managed to pick up his phone and take a picture of the defendant before he drove away.”
Evans was arrested a few days later and provided no comment in his police interview.
In a statement, the man said he was left unable to sleep and was constantly afraid following the ‘attempted hijacking’ of his car. He said if he has to go out driving at night, he takes someone with him for comfort and company, and said he struggles with PTSD.
“People should not be able to commit these crimes and get away with it,” he said.
Evans was said to have seven previous convictions for 19 offences including three offences of carrying a weapon in public.
Defending, Betsy Hindle said that Evans had expressed regret and remorse and said reading the victim impact statement made him feel ‘uncomfortable’. She said it happened in the heat of the moment
“This could accurately be described as a road rage incident - he completely accepts that he has an anger management issue,” she said.
She said his partner was in the car at the time and hit him on the arm when she realised what he was doing was ‘incredibly stupid’.
“It seems like he was a ticking time bomb,” Judge Alan Conrad KC commented, during the mitigation.
Ms Hindle added that her client had been in custody since July and has served the equivalent of a 10 month jail sentence.
“This is a very serious case, one of road rage, that is always viewed seriously by the court,” Judge Alan Conrad KC said.
“He did not deserve such intimidation by you in the way which you did, threatening and causing damage to his car. There was no justification for it.
“You are an intelligent man, but you have a problem with anger - if you do not control it, you’re going to be serving longer and longer inside.”
Evans, of Stanley Street, Cheetham Hill, was handed a two year community order. He was also ordered to complete 30 days of rehabilitation activity requirements, 200 hours unpaid work, and he was made the subject of an electrically monitored curfew for three months between 9pm and 6am.
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