Disabled man used mobility scooter like a 'battering ram' to knock two elderly women, court hears

Aaron Ali claims he suffered 'diabetic crash' before incident

A disabled man used his mobility scooter "like a battering ram" to knock down a pair of pensioners in a deliberate attack, a court heard.

Aaron Ali rammed Doris Collins, 88, and Joan Benjafield, 90 while they were waiting at a bus stop in Welling in Kent, prosecutor James Dean told Southwark Crown Court in south London.

Mr Ali used his chair like “a battering ram”, he said.

CCTV footage showed the 40-year-old reversing into them, one by one, before speeding off.

Ms Collins and Ms Benjafield had been out shopping on 14 June before they were knocked to the ground. Ms Collins suffered abrasions to her knee and Ms Benjafield suffered some bruising.

Mr Ali, who has been charged with three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, also stands accused of running over 72-year-old Michael Gibson in separate alleged attack in Woolwich High Street on 2 January.

He denies all the charges and claimed he suffered a “diabetic crash” before he hit the old ladies.

“That day I was not feeling well,” he told the court. “I was having a diabetic crash. That was what was happening. Basically, I am on morphine… 116 milligrams a day. It makes you clumsy like a drunk. I am feeling like I am going to pass out, I know my blood sugar level. I am having a diabetic crash, that is what happened.”

Mr Ali from Thamesmead, south London, added: “I was not sure if I hit them or I hit the bus stop and they fell or they pushed each other."

The former nurse, told the court he was left disabled after he was attacked by a patient while working at the Shaftesbury House care home in Ealing.

Mr Gibson, the 72-year-old who lost a tooth when he was knocked down in Woolwich in January, said he got up immediately after the incident and ran after Mr Ali, who was speeding away in his mobility scooter.

He said Mr Ali refused to answer his questions, adding: “He was in a wheelchair so I left it at that."

The trial continues.