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Cyclist who knocked girl, 5, to floor in snow ordered to pay just €1 compensation after social media abuse he received
A CYCLIST who knocked a five-year-old girl to the floor in snow has been ordered to pay just €1 in compensation after he received a barrage of criticism online.
Footage of the incident, which was shared online last year, showed the little girl walking with a woman in a nature park in Baraque Michel, Belgium, when a cyclist riding past appeared to stick his knee out.
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A court in the city of Verviers ruled today the man was guilty of deliberately kneeing the girl and handed him a suspended sentence on the grounds he had already been criticised enough on social media.
Dad Patrick Mpasa had been filming his wife and daughter walking in the park on Christmas Day when the cyclist rode post.
He then posted the footage on social media and asked viewers if they agreed he was right to make a complaint to the cops.
Mr Mpasa said he had chased after the man and managed to make him stop but the rider had been unrepentant.
After a complaint was made to the cops the cyclist and any witnesses were asked to come forward.
At the time the local cycling association GRACQ called the man’s behaviour as “unacceptable”.
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The judge today said the man had no intention of harming the girl, it was a minor incident and the man had already faced criticism on social media.
The judge added the man, who was not named, had already spent time in custody when he was arrested.
The cyclist was ordered to pay the girl’s family just €1 – equivalent to 86p – in compensation for the incident.
In an earlier court hearing on February 3, the cyclist claimed the incident happened because he had been trying to keep his balance.
The cyclist told the judge: “When I was riding close to the girl, I felt my rear wheel slide off.
“To avoid a fall, I brought myself back into balance with a movement of the knee. I felt that I hit the girl, but did not immediately realise that she had fallen.”
The prosecutor though did not accept what the man claimed, replying: “He was annoyed by the people on the path who had to swerve around all the time.
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“He gave the child a '’knee punch'’ out of sheer annoyance because an obstacle was in his way for the umpteenth time.'”
The judge also dismissed the accused’s version of events”
The cyclist had faced the possibility of spending up to a year in prison.
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