Man sentenced after tipping pensioner out of mobility scooter in ‘disability hate crime’

A man who joined his partner in flipping a pensioner out of a mobility scooter after the victim refused to give them money has been sentenced.

Gary Hammond, 46, of Hillington Square in Lynn, appeared at the town’s magistrates’ court on Thursday, where he was handed a community order.

During a previous hearing, he had pleaded guilty to assault by beating, as well as common assault on an emergency worker and using threatening words to cause alarm or distress.

His partner, Amy Kirkbride, spent a total of 12 weeks in prison for the same matter.

It occurred on July 8 on Norfolk Street in Lynn. The pair approached the man in his 70s asking him for money.

When the man declined to do so, the pair tipped the electric scooter backwards, causing the man to graze his elbow and his shopping to spill over him.

A statement was read out in court provided by the victim, who said the incident has left him feeling scared to leave his own home.

“I now do online shopping so I don’t have to go out in case I see him. I loved going out on my mobility scooter,” the victim said.

Prosecutor Sarah Fiddy described the offence as a “disability hate crime”.

Hammond was ordered to pay £100 in compensation to the victim, as well as a £100 fine and a victim surcharge of £114.

He was also given a 24-month community order, which involves a 12-month community sentence treatment, ten rehabilitation activity requirement days, and requires him to wear an alcohol monitoring tag for 90 days.