Road rage incident lands man in court on assault charges

Paulo Miguel Correia Reis of Tower Street, Boston, admitted assaulting Craig Thompson by beating when he appeared before magistrates in the town.

Prosecuting, Marie Stace said that at 11.45am on September 23, Reis was forced to stop his car in Trinity Street because of a van that was parked in the road while the driver made a delivery.

She said an argument took place between Reis and the delivery man, Craig Thompson, when he returned to the van, during which Reis said to Mr Thompson: “Come here you skinny little...” before swearing and spitting at his face.

After police were called and he was arrested, he admitted he had spat at his face but it had landed on his coat but alleged Mr Thompson had sworn at him and told him to go ‘back to his own country’.

He told officers he had thought about hitting him but decided to spit at him instead.

Magistrates heard that in 2015, Reis had been fined for two offences of racially aggravated public order offences.

Reis told the court he ‘regretted’ what he had done and that it was ‘in the heat of the moment’.

“I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did,” he told the magistrates.

He was conditionally discharged for 12 months and ordered to pay costs and charges totalling £105.