A man who verbally abused an ambulance driver leaving her ‘shaken and frightened’ in a road rage incident at Withybush Hospital has been handed a community order.
Forty-seven-year-old Justin Keith Holmes of College Park, Neyland, appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates Court on Tuesday, to admit a charge of causing a female medical worker harassment, alarm or distress, by using threatening, abusive or insulting words.
Prosecutor Dennis Davies told the court that the incident occurred on September 14 when the complainant was driving an ambulance and transporting a non-emergency patient to the facility in Haverfordwest.
“After the driver of the ambulance turned into the main hospital entrance she noticed a vehicle stop in front of her.
“Next thing a male (Mr. Holmes) walks towards the vehicle and starts banging on the ambulance.
After opening the door, the complainant said that the defendant then subjected her to a tirade of verbal abuse, using foul language, telling her that she needed to ‘learn how to drive’ before threatening to ‘punch her in the face’ the court heard.
Witnesses on the scene also stated that the defendant shouted ‘I’ll break your neck if you hit my car with my son in it’ towards the ambulance driver.
In a victim impact statement given to police, the complainant said that the verbal attack had affected her greatly, and left her ‘extremely shaken and frightened’.
Mr. Holmes had told police that a feeling of ‘rage ‘ had come over him as he was travelling to the hospital with his sixteen-year-old son who suffers with autism, after he believed that the ambulance driving in the same direction had nearly veered into his car on the way to the facility, almost forcing him into the curb on the side of the roadway.
Probation officer Julie Norman told the court that Mr. Holmes was ‘extremely remorseful’ for his actions.
“He does accept that he was annoyed, and is sorry for the distress he caused the complainant,” she said.
Chief magistrate Miss Lynda Stubbs told the defendant on sentencing that it was a ‘nasty incident’ that would have been frightening for anyone on the other side of his ‘rage’.
Mr. Holmes was handed a 12 month community order with 100 hours of unpaid work, and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £85 and a £90 victim surcharge.