Pensioners mown down by a mobility scooter

A disabled man used his mobility scooter as a ‘battering ram’ to knock over two elderly women on the pavement, a court heard.

Aaron Ali, 40, allegedly reversed over Doris Collins, 88, and Joan Benjafield, 90, while they were out shopping in Welling, Kent.

The two pensioners were waiting at a bus stop outside South East Models shop on Upper Wickham Lane on June 14 this year when they were run over by Ali.

Ali is also accused of ambushing 72-year-old Michael Gibson in another random attack in nearby Woolwich High Street on January 2.

Ms Collins and Ms Benjafield were waiting to get on a number 96 bus when the ramp came down and Ali rode off on his scooter.

CCTV footage played in court shows him pass the two women then suddenly stop.

James Dean, prosecuting, said: ‘He is seen to reverse.

‘He hits the old lady nearest the curb (Ms Benjafield).

‘She hits the ground.

‘(Mr Ali) stops and goes forward a short distance.

‘Believe it or not he reverses again.

‘And the other lady (Ms Collins) is struck in exactly the same manner.

‘She falls, partly at least, on the other old lady, who is still on the ground.’

Ms Benjafield was left with bruises to her calf and ribs while Collins suffered some abrasions to her knee.

The prosecutor said Ali used his chair ‘as a battering ram’ against the two old ladies.

Mr Gibson was shopping with his son and daughter in Woolwich when he saw Ali coming towards him in his electric wheelchair.

‘He was about two yards away when I saw him’, the pensioner said.

‘It was somebody in a wheelchair so obviously I moved out of the way.’

Mr Gibson took a step to the left to avoid Ali, but received a blow to the face, the court heard.

‘The blow was upwards, I knew it was a punch because I felt it,’ he said.

‘Next thing I remember is my son and daughter coming up to me.

‘After I was punched I was down for about 10-20 seconds.’

Mr Gibson got up and saw Ali making his way at speed down the road and turning the corner.

He ran after Ali in hot pursuit and caught up to him.

‘I said to him what’d you do that for.’

He said that Ali kept looking ahead and refused to answer him.

‘He was in a wheelchair so I left it at that,’ said Mr Gibson.

Mr Gibson said he lit a cigarette after the incident and part of his front tooth came off.

‘I’ve only got three teeth so I did not need to lose another one,’ he said.

‘My face was swollen up and hanging down.

‘After I was just on soups and things like that.’

Ali, of Poplar Place, Thamesmead, denies three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one of common assault.

The trial continues.
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