Anthony Pasquale: Man jailed for bull bar road rage attack on Vipin Aggarwal
A man was left clinging onto the bull bar of a car as it sped up to 80km/h along a stretch of road for three kilometres in what has been described as a ‘vicious’ road attack. The driver responsible today faced justice. SEE THE SHOCKING FOOTAGE.
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A furious motorist who drove his Landcruiser with another man clinging for his life off a bull bar for three kilometres on a busy highway has been sentenced to jail.
Anthony Pasquale, 45, was driving a white Toyota Landcruiser when he was involved in nose-to-tail crash with a silver Camry Sedan on Centenary Drive in Homebush about midday on 25 December 2019.
The driver of the Sedan, Vipin Aggarwal, 37, got out of his car to exchange his details yet when he saw Pasquale did not get out he stood in front of the Landcruiser.
When Pasquale started to take off Aggarwal grabbed the bull bar and clung onto it for three kilometres on the highway at a speed of about 70-80km/h before he jumped off at a turn on Margaret Street in Greenacre and collapsed metres away.
Police arrested Pasquale at his Liberty Grove home the following morning where he was slapped with four charges; cause bodily harm by misconduct, negligent driving, driving recklessly and not giving particulars to another driver.
The negligent driving charge, related to the collision, has since been dropped.
Pasquale, who has pleaded guilty to all three charges, fronted Burwood Local Court on Thursday wearing a black long-sleeve sweater with his hair gelled back.
In court, the police prosecutor said the manner which Pasquale drove the vehicle was dangerous to the public.
“Even if there wasn’t someone on the bonnet it would still be a risk to the public,” he told the court.
Video footage taken by a passer-by was shown in court showing Aggarwal hanging onto the bulbar as Pasquale drove his Landcruiser from the far right lane on the highway before veering to the far left lane.
The person taking the video and other passengers can be heard screaming “call police” and “stop stop” before they called triple-zero.
“He’s even speeding,” one person yelled in the video.
“Look he’s now going to change lanes again,” another said.
“He’s still hanging off the front.”
His legal aid representative told the court that Pasquale is to be punished for “what act occurred rather than what could have occurred.”
She relayed Pasquale’s version of events in which he claimed he was “concerned” about his car blocking traffic after the crash and wanted to find a safer place to move his car.
She told the court he felt “significant remorse” and said it was an “isolated incident” saying an ICO was an option instead of full time imprisonment.
His lawyer said, “watching the footage one can be horrified of what could have occurred...”
Yet magistrate Daniel Reiss interjected saying, “I was already horrified reading the facts.”
“It could have been much worse but it wasn’t,” his lawyer replied.
The court heard Pasquale was an excavator and lost his job after losing his licence following the incident. He is a father of two teenage children and lives with his parents after the breakdown of his marriage.
He had also been involved in a separate crash just two weeks before and was convicted for negligent driving and not giving particulars.
In his sentencing, magistrate Reiss said the victim was hanging off the bull bar for three kilometres over a three-minute period while “raising his legs.”
As a result he suffered burns to his right elbow, a 5cm cut to his right knee and grazing on his thigh.
“A person hanging on to his life on a bull bar is a very serious misconduct on the higher end of the scale,” the magistrate said.
“It was a very dramatic even and would’ve been horrific and horrendous for him.”
“There was very high risk of injury or death if that gentleman did not manage to hold on.”
Magistrate Reiss further described the act of him driving with the victim at the front was “vicious” and “uncaring.”
He was convicted and sentenced to nine months in prison until 1 April 2021 and will be eligible for parole on October 1.