Let-off for electrician who beat traffic warden with bike lock
A traffic warden was beaten with a motorcycle lock after he tried to issue tickets without his hat on.
Electrician Sonny Killingback, 29, took pictures of Piotr Knowczyk and said he had no authority because he was not properly dressed, the Old Bailey heard.
Mr Knowczyk tried to explain he left his hat off because it was so hot but was attacked with the chain lock by enraged Killingback.
Prosecutor Christian Moll said the Camden traffic warden was checking vehicles on Broadhurst Gardens in Finchley, north London, on Saturday 23 June last year.
‘Mr Killingback approached him and said: ‘You cannot be giving out tickets as you are not wearing a hat,’ he added.
Mr Knowczyk explained that he wasn’t wearing a hat because it was very hot day, and he wasn’t required to wear it anyway.
But Killingback started taking photographs of the warden who in turn started snapping him on his mobile.
‘The defendant then knocked the phone out of Mr Knowczyk’s hands and he responded by pushing the defendant away, I believe in the face, because he appeared to have a got a bloody nose,’ said Mr Moll.
‘So there was some sort of tussle between the of them by that point.
‘The traffic warden decided to let bygones be bygones and turned around to pick up his phone.
‘The turned back around, he saw the defendant with a large metal motorbike chain in his hand,’ he added.
Killingback, who had arrived on the scene with a moped, used the moped lock chain to hit his victim on the head four or five times.
‘He managed to run across to the other side of the road to escape.
‘The defendant ran after him with a chain and he was shouting and swearing at members of the public who were trying to help him,’ said Mr Moll.
Eventually Killingback jumped on his moped and drove away leaving his victim nursing cuts on his head and a bruised shoulder.
He was arrested three months later when he was stopped for speeding.
The court heard that Killingback had two prior convictions for battery.
Charlies Langley, defending, said at the time of the incident, Killingback was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of an attack six months earlier.
The attack left him with a broken jaw.
‘The effect it had mentally and physically is why he acted in way so out of character to how he usually does,’ said Mr Langley.
‘He is a very different person today from the person who committed this offence back in June last year,’ he added.
Mr Langley said Killingback accepted full responsibility for the incident and felt great remorse.
‘He has since turned his life around.
‘He is in permanent accommodation and in full-time employment.
‘He has good relations with his family and partner who is now pregnant,’ he added.
He added that his client, now working as an electrician, was currently in treatment for his anger issues.
Judge Sean Enright said: ‘These events happen on 23 June last year.
‘The victim is a traffic warden, he was checking vehicles.
‘You approached him on the legality of issuing tickets.
‘There was a scuffle in which the victim struck you, that much is clear, and you sustained an injury to your jaw.
‘That triggered the memory if an assault which had an impact on your life.
‘The victim has sustained cuts to the head which were treated with glue.
‘I have seen the photographs, and they are unpleasant injuries,’ added the judge.
‘I have never suspended a sentence of imprisonment for an assault on a traffic warden before or anything like that,’ said Judge Enright.
‘I accept the submission that the effect of custody may be far greater than for others.
‘You are a risk to yourself and other people in my judgements and despite this being a very serious case, the better course is to allow you the opportunity to take all the treatment you can.’
Killingback, smartly dressed in a blue suit, appeared jubilant as he was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended over two years.
He was also ordered to pay £1,200 in compensation.
Killingback, of Arlington Road, Camden, admitted assault occasioning bodily harm.
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