A disabled man used his electric wheelchair as a “battering ram” to deliberately knock down two elderly women as they waited for a bus, a court heard.
Aaron Ali, 40, allegedly reversed over Doris Collins, 88, and Joan Benjafield, 90, while they were out shopping in Welling, Kent.
He is also accused of punching 72-year-old Michael Gibson in another random attack in Woolwich High Street.
James Dean, for the prosecution, told Southwark crown court that the two women were waiting to board a bus on June 14 when Ali drove past them, stopped, then reversed, used his vehicle “as a battering ram” against the women. “He hits the lady nearest the kerb. She hits the ground,” he said. “[Ali] stops and goes forward a short distance. Believe it or not he reverses again. The other lady is struck in the same manner. She falls, partly at least, on the other lady.”
Mrs Benjafield suffered bruises and Mrs Collins had knee injuries.
Describing the alleged attack on him on January 2, Mr Gibson said he was shopping when Ali came towards him in an electric wheelchair. He stepped aside to let Ali through, but then felt an “upwards” blow to his face.
Mr Gibson said he was on the ground for at least 10 seconds, but was able to chase after the man in the wheelchair. “I said to him, ‘What’d you do that for?’” he said, adding that the alleged attacker refused to answer him.
He lost a tooth because of the attack.
Ali, from Thamesmead, denies three charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and one count of common assault. The trial continues.
