A man who keyed and damaged cars in Portslade shouted abuse at a builder who filmed him, a court heard today.
Shouidur Rahman, 33, was caught on camera by Christopher Stokes as he attacked Kathleen Dent and James Pearce’s cars in Vale Road at 12.45pm on 22 February this year.
When he saw that he was being filmed, Rahman reeled off a stream of abuse, telling Mr Stokes and other bystanders: “Bow to me, I’m the kingpin you white prick. Come here you white bitches.”
He also called women in the street “white whores” and shouted “fuck you”.
When two policemen arrived, he assaulted them both, spitting at officer Jack Mounstephen and kicking him and pinching him hard enough to cause injury.
Rahman, of Boundary Road, Hove, was also spotted keying a car in the middle of the night in Crown Road, Portslade, on 6 September.
Today, he was tried in his absence for three counts of criminal damage, one of racial harassment and two of assaulting an emergency worker at Brighton Magistrates Court.
Kelly Loughlin, whose partner Mark Funnell’s van was keyed in Crown Road, told the court she looked out of the window after hearing something at about 3am.
She said: “He was walking at quite a casual pace with a swagger. As he got outside our house, his left hand came out and dragged across our van.
“He swapped hands and then went across the bonnet of my neighbour’s car. My heart was racing.”
Mr Funnell told the court he didn’t see the scratching but did hear a tapping sound.
He said: “I went downstairs and confronted the man, asking did you scratch my van?
“He said no and then walked away very fast.”
Mr Funnell later picked him out in an ID parade.
Prosecuting, Natasha Dardashti said that when he was interviewed about the Crown Road offences, Rahman had insisted he had done nothing wrong.
He said he had just been walking around Portslade after being dropped off by a friend who had given him a lift back from Littlehampton.
After deliberating, chair of the bench John Tierney said: “We find the three live witnesses, Kathleen Dent, Kelly Loughlin and Mark Funnell, gave critical, clear, reliable accounts of what they had witnessed.
“The mobile footage was clear in showing the defendant kicking Mrs Dent’s car and damaging James Pearce’s car.
“The PCs’s evidence was consistent and clear and we were also shown body worn camera footage.
“Mark Funnell did identify Rahman as being the person outside his house.
“We are satisfied that the prosecution has proved the charges beyond reasonable doubt and find Mr Rahman guilty.”
Rahman, who has been signing on at Brighton Police Station as a condition of his bail, could not be sentenced today as he did not turn up at court.
Following his conviction, a warrant was issued for his arrest, not backed for bail.
And let us hope that, for once, the punishment will fit the crime, and not be just a ticking off, or a suspended sentence.
I hope that the three who can bear witness will take him to civil court too and hit his pocket after his sentence, however inadequate it likely turns out to be.
Highly likely he did mine as I live in that area and he was lucky I never saw it.