Two motorcyclists who heard screaming and saw a couple arguing in the street after midnight tried to act as Good Samaritans by asking if the woman needed any help – but, minutes later, their kindness left them both seriously injured.
The hot-headed couple who were arguing had been at a party and the woman’s partner badly “over-reacted” and hurled a brick at the motorcycle, causing the driver and his pillion passenger to crash into a parked van and fall off. The angry partygoer who had been arguing with the woman followed up by viciously assaulting the motorcycle driver.
The party host joined in with the shocking scenes of violence on that “fateful night” by punching the dazed motorcycle passenger – breaking his nose, Hull Crown Court heard.
Ben Mulvana, 28, of Waveney Road, Longhill estate, Hull, admitted offences of wounding both victims on July 30, 2023. Jamie Harrington, 32, of Murrayfield Road, off Chanterlands Avenue, west Hull, admitted one offence of wounding the pillion passenger.
Cathy Kioko-Gilligan, prosecuting, said that two men, both aged 22 at the time, had been at the home of one of them. Just after midnight, that person drove his friend home on his motorcycle, taking them along Chanterlands Avenue and past Murrayfield Road.
As they passed Murrayfield Road, they heard screaming and saw a man and a woman arguing. The driver called out to the couple: “Is everything okay?” – and he decided to ride along Murrayfield Road to ensure that everything was fine.
As they rode past, Mulvana left the garden and approached the motorcycle. The driver feared that Mulvana was going to push them off the motorcycle so he sped up to pass him safely.
“However, he discovered that Murrayfield Road was a dead end and so he had to turn around,” said Miss Kioko-Gilligan. As they rode past Mulvana for a second time, Mulvana threw a brick, which hit the right side of the driver’s motorcycle helmet, causing immediate pain and ringing in his ear, with the residue from the brick falling into his eyes, momentarily blinding him as his visor had been up.
The driver lost control of his motorcycle and it hit a white van that was parked on the left side of the street, causing both of them to fall off. “The motorcycle continued on and crossed Chanterlands Avenue before colliding with the kerb and a wall on the opposite side of the road,” said Miss Kioko-Gilligan.
The pillion passenger, winded and dazed from the fall, was sitting in the road when he was approached by Harrington, who punched him in the face, causing a fracture to the bridge of his nose. “He was, however, able to get to his feet and run from the scene,” said Miss Kioko-Gilligan.
As a result of the collision, the passenger suffered cuts to his arms, hip area and hands. The wound to his left hand was so severe and deep that he had to have plastic surgery.
The driver “chased his motorcycle across the road” and turned to look for his friend. “He was immediately confronted by Mulvana and another unknown male, who set about assaulting him, striking him to his arms, chest and head,” said Miss Kioko-Gilligan. Some of the blows were inflicted using the motorcycle helmet that the passenger had been wearing.
The driver suffered a dislocated little finger on his right hand and severely torn skin to his left little finger, which needed surgery because of the possibility of tendon or nerve damage. He also suffered damaged membrane to his right ear from being hit with the brick.
Another man eventually intervened and the motorcycle driver was able to leave the scene. Both men went to Hull Royal Infirmary that night. They made their own inquiries and Mulvana and Harrington were identified.
Mulvana told police that he was at Harrington’s party and heard a motorcycle revving its engine and driving up and down the road but he had not seen it or its riders as he was in the back garden. He denied throwing the brick, causing the collision and assaulting the two men. Harrington made no comment to all questions.
Mulvana had convictions for two previous offences, including one as a youth in 2012 and motoring matters in 2022. Harrington had no previous convictions but he had a reprimand in 2003 and a warning for assault in 2007.
Jazmine Lee, mitigating, said that the motorcyclists approached Mulvana and his partner to offer assistance to her if she needed it because of the argument. Mulvana claimed that the motorcycle came towards them again and that they believed that they were being followed by the riders.
“They truly believed that they were being followed by these two males,” said Miss Lee. “They had to turn round at the bottom of the road. They came back.”
Miss Lee said of Mulvana: “He has over-reacted, and that’s putting it lightly, by doing what he did. He was genuinely in fear that these victims were up to something that clearly they were not. This may have been one genuine but huge misunderstanding.
“He is deeply remorseful about what he has caused on this fateful night and he is mortified that he is before the court for such a violent offence. It was potentially fatal.
“It was spontaneous. It wasn’t planned in any way. It was an impulsive act to pick up something he found and throw it at the victims.” The brick was actually, however, taken out of a wall, the court heard.
Benjamin Donnell, representing Harrington, said that the defendant landed only one punch to the pillion passenger, causing a fractured nose. “This offence was completely out of character,” said Mr Donnell.
Harrington had been told something by Mulvana that clearly was not true. “He is very remorseful for his behaviour that night,” said Mr Donnell. “He soon realised the situation was not what he had been led to believe and that what he had done was unforgivable.
“He has struggled emotionally with what he has done. He knows that what he has done is wrong and he is not going to make that mistake again.” Both men were ground workers and they each had two children.
Mulvana was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence, 200 hours’ unpaid work and he was ordered to pay £2,000 compensation to the motorcycle rider. Harrington was given a six-month suspended prison sentence, 80 hours’ unpaid work and he must pay £500 compensation to the pillion passenger.