SEBAH: FRENCH BEGGAR PUSHED OFF DUTY POLICEMAN IN FRONT OF A BUS
An off-duty police officer was left fearing for his life after a beggar pushed him over into the path of an oncoming bus, a court heard today (Thurs).
The vehicle was forced to swerve to avoid hitting the terrified officer, PC Gary Leacock, as he lay on the busy road outside Victoria Station, central London.
French tourist Franck Sebah had been in the country for barely 24 hours when he ran out of money and started pestering commuters for spare change.
He had brought just 30 euros with him for a five day trip to the UK, the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard.
Jailing the 44-year-old for a week, District Judge Nicholas Evans told him: ‘You were aggressively begging.
‘It is quite unacceptable behaviour to do it and, when someone doesn’t give you money, for you to start pushing them around.’
The court heard that the pair clashed after Sebah, from Paris, went up to customers waiting in line at a bureau de change in Victoria Station, asking for ’50 cents’ at around 6pm on August 16.
Leonard Herman, prosecuting, said: ‘He then approached the officer and asked for the money, to which PC Leacock replied ‘no’.’
Sebah then followed him out of the station to the junction between Victoria Street and Palace Street.
‘Again the defendant approached him’ siad Mr Herman.
‘He produced his warrant card, told him he was a police officer and that he shouldn’t be begging.
‘The defendant followed him across the road, shouting ‘come on, we’ll sort this out – man to man.’
Sebah then shoved him into the road, knocking him down.
PC Leacock’s statement read: ‘I looked up and saw a bus coming towards me.
‘I feared for my life and tried to roll away. The bus swerved.’
As he ran off, before being detained by members of the public in a nearby McDonalds, Sebah yelled: ‘if you ever come to France, I have a big family and there will be problems for you!’
Tom MacKinnon, defending, said his client, an unemployed former security guard, had arrived in the UK the previous day after taking a bus from France.
‘His mother gave him some money so he could travel to London for a few days,’ he said.
‘He speaks very very little English, and he thought he was being insulted.
‘He didn’t appreciate this was an off-duty officer – he thought it was an American gentleman telling him off.’
Passing sentence Judge Evans said told him he had started begging ‘within hours of arriving.’
‘You seem to have come here with insufficient money to survive,’ he said.
‘Food and accomodation are very expensive.’
Sebah, of no fixed address, admitted common assault.
ends
