A teenager has been fined for dangerous cycling after riding through the Asda superstore at Brighton Marina.
Keith Mujuru, 19, was one of a group of youngsters who were filmed cycling through the supermarket earlier this year.
Sussex Police said today (Thursday 24 October): “A teenager who was part of a group of youths on bikes who rode through the Asda store at Brighton Marina in June has been fined in court.
“Keith Mujuru, 19, unemployed, of Law Street, Southwark, London, appeared at Crawley Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (23 October) and pleaded guilty to dangerous cycling and using threatening or abusive words or behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.
“He was fined £440 for dangerous cycling and £440 for using threatening or abusive words or behaviour totalling £880.
“Police responded to a report of threats made by the youths at the store on the afternoon of (Sunday) 23 June.”
Detective Chief Inspector Mike Ashcroft said: “The behaviour of Mujuru and the other youths that afternoon was totally unacceptable.
“They came down from London and decided to cycle through the store, frightening customers and staff, film it and put it on social media.
“We worked closely with our colleagues in the Metropolitan Police in order to fully investigate these offences.
“We will not tolerate this type of threatening and anti-social behaviour in our community.”
A fine which will probably never be paid. No deterrent at all.
Agreed, especially as he is unemployed according to the article. The problem is what does, or might, constitute a deterrent nowadays? There seems to be a whole cross section of society who couldn’t care less about anything but themselves. They seem to see being on social media as the great life achievement, no doubt encouraged by the dubious fame some people get from it. I could suggest a whole raft of old fashioned deterrents, but doubt these would help either even if allowed since they might harm the sensibilities of today.
This is a pathetic response by Crawley magistrates (why Crawley – he didn’t do this in Crawley, which town probably couldn’t care less). What about assault and jumping bail? I now don’t blame the police for being very tardy in their response to all this. What’s the point in using police resources if they know the end result is a mild slap on the wrist. This unemployed hooligan could afford the bike, helmet camera and presumably other tech to brag on YouTube, so the fine is nothing at all. I would have said that compulsory community service would be more appropriate, but he is probably so brain-dead that he would be a total liability.
All this story is based on is a press release from the police. There was obviously no reporter in court, as is all too common now. We don’t really know any details or was said apart from what the police said.
There’s a lot more to this story than meets the eye, and it’s important to know the situation before everybody condemns this one kid.
Firstly, what he and the other lads did was totally wrong, and this guy has been picked out as their ‘gang’ ringleader to be rightly punished. He was easily caught because he filmed his own crimes. He has pleaded guilty and apologised, but the fine he got comes on top of him being de-monetised on his YouTube channel, and that’s where the true story lies.
As ‘Wheelie K’ this guy is actually one of a few Youtubers who have great bike skills and who make instructional videos to show teenagers how to ride their bikes on the back wheel whilst doing other tricks.
It’s perhaps an urban sport like skateboarding, and with so many kids trying to use their bikes the same way, they want to meet up and share their skills. Someone early on realised this was a way of getting the youths living on poorer estates to have a hobby, rather than them joining territorial gangs, and so ‘ride outs’ have become the thing where the groups all meet up to go for a bike ride, usually on their back wheels.
These ride outs are in many ways no different than a group of middle aged men in lycra gathering in the woods to go mountain biking on a muddy course – except these kids tend to ride down the road showing off in front of their friends in the middle of road traffic. So it’s a bit dumb, but where else are they supposed to go? If not on the road then they would block the cycle paths. More likely you’ll find them, along with teenagers you yourself may know, cycling around pedestrianised areas and shopping centre car parks etc. There’s a group of boys and one girl who do wheelies on the prom near my house in Hove. Luckily they tend to gather where there are few pedestrians around…
The problem came for Wheelie K when a ride out to Brighton went wrong. When you run a YouTube channel the pressure is on to get entertaining or outrageous footage, and so to ride the wrong way down one way streets or to ride your bikes through a supermarket is the macho way to get more ‘followers’.
The deal is that it’s ‘us teenagers against the world’ and so laws don’t matter. To onlookers, the bike riders seem feral, and that’s part of the thrill, and then a gang mentality takes over.
But of course laws do matter and anti-social behaviour is something that parents need to teach their offspring about. Wheelie K is also sponsored by a bike shop, and we can only hope that some grown up acts as a mentor here. The lad not only has good bike skills, he was becoming a good film maker, and just as he was starting to make a career out of those skills he will have lost his income where the YouTube videos have been demonetised.
I imagine that he had already learnt his lesson way before this court case. The hate comments he has received online must be even worse than the conviction and fine.
Such a good response Billy, well done. I hope this kid does get a break.
Someone should give them a good hiding. Urban sport my a#$$