09 September 2023 , 13:45
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A Belgian cyclist who filmed himself kneeing a five-year-old girl and knocking her to the ground as he rode past her has won his court case against her father.
The unidentified 63-year-old biker was caught on camera knocking the girl, Neia, into deep snow in a nature reserve in Baraque Michel, Liege Province on Christmas Day in 2020. The cyclist claimed that the shared footage caused him to feel threatened by angry social media users and scared to leave his home, the Sun reported.
Despite the footage seeming to show him deliberately sticking out his knee and causing Neia to tumble face-first into the snow, he won his case. A court will determine next April how much compensation he is entitled to after he successfully argued he was defamed. The footage was filmed by Neia's dad, Patrick Mpasa, who uploaded it to social media and asked users whether they thought he should report the incident to police.
The cyclist who gave a knee punch to a young girl in Belgium (Newsflash)
The unidentified 63-year-old biker was caught on camera knocking the girl (Newsflash)In a court hearing on February 3, 2021, the cyclist insisted that he stuck out his knee to keep his balance and avoid falling, adding that he "did not immediately realise" he had knocked the girl over. A judge ordered him to pay the equivalent of just over $1 in compensation in March 2021 on the grounds that he did not intend to hurt the child and that he had already been criticised enough on social media. The family believed that if it had been an accident, the man would have stopped to check that the child was okay instead of continuing his journey.
"A lot of people tell me that I should have hit him, but I don't agree and in any case, I was in front of my children which would have made things even worse for them. I also don't want a witch hunt, I just want him to apologise", Mr Mpasa said.
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The father claimed he was not seeking revenge by posting the footage but simply wanted to share the images to "raise awareness" about dangerous cycling. He said in December 2020: "I also don’t want a witch hunt, I just want him to apologise."
Jacques Englebert, Mpasa's lawyer, said in response to the defamation suit at the time: "We have the right to express ourselves. We have the right to post or have posted a video on the internet. In this case, we must check whether we have exceeded the limits of this freedom of expression."
During a court hearing on February 3, 2021, the cyclist said: "When I was riding close to the girl, I felt my rear wheel sliding. To avoid a fall, I balanced myself with a movement of my knee. I felt that I might have hit the girl, but did not immediately realise she had been knocked over."
The cyclist previously demanded £3,911 in compensation, equal to the value of the bicycle he claims he can no longer use. The local cyclist Association GRACQ, which saw the video, at the time, described the man's behaviour as "unacceptable".