Ingoldmells man '˜appeared to swing' baseball bat in road rage incident

Scott Turner, 26, of Stacey Close, admitted possessing an offensive weapon, assaulting Damon Habbin and careless driving in the incident in Spalding Road, Boston on September 14.

Prosecuting, Marie Stace said Turner was involved in a ‘road rage’ incident with Damon Habbin after he (Turner) had driven his work’s van through a roundabout in the wrong lane and Mr Habbin had sounded his horn at him.

She said the two cars went alongside each other and offensive words were exchanged until there was a ‘low level collision’ between the two when Turner pulled in front of Mr Habbin’s car.

She said Mr Habbin got out of his car to ask for insurance details when Turner produced a baseball bat from the van he was driving and Mr Habbin ran back into his car.

Ms Stace said an independent witness said Turner ‘appeared to swing’ the baseball bat at Mr Habbin.

After police were called and Turner was arrested, he said he had ‘no intention’ to hit the other driver but did have the bat with him for self defence and admitted to swearing at Mr Habbin.

Mitigating, Philippa Chatterton said Turner, who had been driving a work’s van with two work colleagues, was not familiar with the road and had got into the wrong lane by mistake.

She said it was quite clear the two drivers had been arguing with each other and that Turner had collided with the other car.

She said that when they stopped in traffic, things deteriorated and Turner exited the vehicle with a bat in his hand, which had been given to him by one of his colleagues.

“He didn’t even know it was in the van,” she said and pointed out that Mr Habbin was not struck and had been assaulted by Turner’s actions causing fear, not by actually being hit.

The magistrates sent Turner for sentence at Lincoln Crown Court on a date to be notified and said it was because he had ‘used a weapon to threaten and cause fear’.

He was granted unconditional bail.