Road rage 'maniac' bit off part of driver's ear after row

Daniel McAuley found guilty of wounding after gouging driver's eyes during row - driver ploughed in to parked car as he tried to escape


Binley Road - scene of road rage attack

An irate man dived through the open window of a car during a road-rage incident and gouged at the driver’s eyes before biting off part of his ear.

The car then crashed after the victim lost control of it because of Daniel McAuley’s attack which had taken place at traffic lights in Coventry.

A jury at Warwick Crown Court took just 25 minutes to convict McAuley of wounding the driver with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm, which he had denied.

Prosecutor Simon Hunka had told the jury the case was ‘‘about road rage’’ and happened June 21 last year.

Mr Hunka said that during the afternoon the victim - a Mr Hussain - was driving alone along Binley Road, Coventry, in his Vauxhall Corsa, while McAuley was a front seat passenger in a Peugeot 206.

‘‘When they reached a set of traffic lights the Peugeot was in front of the Corsa. Whatever happened caused the defendant to get out of the car and go over to the Corsa effing and blinding at Mr Hussain, saying ‘Why did you do that?’”

Having opened the door of the Corsa to rant, McAuley, 23, of Binley Avenue, Binley, then slammed it shut and returned to the Peugeot, and both cars moved off.

By the next set of lights Mr Hussain had overtaken the Peugeot and was in front of it when both cars stopped.

A woman who was parked on the pavement as she waited for her husband to come out of a nearby shop saw McAuley get out of the Peugeot and go to the passenger side of the Corsa.

In a statement read to the jury she described how she saw McAuley ‘dive in through the open window’ before throwing a number of punches at the driver.

The Corsa then pulled away as the punches continued, and went round the corner out of her sight, where it crashed into a parked car.

But Mr Hunka told the jury: “In truth, what happened was worse than that.

“Having dived in through the window he was gouging at Mr Hussain’s eye with his fingers, and he bit his left ear. Part of Mr Hussain’s ear was removed as a result.”

The attack caused Mr Hussain to taken his hands off the steering wheel and lose control of the car, which shot forward – and as McAuley grabbed the wheel the Corsa turned into the side road and crashed.

McAuley, who was believed to have still had the piece of ear in his mouth because it was not found at the scene, got out and ran off back to the Peugeot which was driven off.

Following the jury’s swift unanimous verdict the case was adjourned for a pre-sentence report to be prepared on McAuley, who was granted bail.

But Recorder Stephen Linehan QC warned him: “You need to understand, the fact I’m adjourning for a pre-sentence report is not to be taken as any indication that the sentence when you come back will be a non-custodial sentence. You know how serious this offence is.”