Blood delivery driver jailed for running over cyclist in Lewisham

Dashcam footage from inside the van, shown to the court, captured Okotie turning the steering wheel sharply, sending the cyclist under two of the vehicle’s wheels.

The victim needed “numerous screws and plates” in his pelvis and femur. In a statement released by the Met Police, he said he had been an active person but his injuries had stopped him from jogging and doing other physical activities.

Sentencing, Recorder Neil Haythorne told Okotie: “In a moment of extreme road rage, which appears entirely out of character from what I have heard about you, you caused serious injury to a cyclist.”

The judge did not ban Okotie from driving, noting he had continued to drive since the incident.

Mandisa Knights, mitigating, said Okotie, a father of eight with a one-year-old grandchild, mentored young people to keep them away from the violence he had been exposed to when he was younger.

She said “a momentary relapse in retaliation” had led to “grave consequences” and he would now have to face the boys he had mentored and admit what he had done.

Det Insp Steven Andrews, from the Met, said Okotie had been carrying blood “destined for hospital patients in need”.

“Instead of continuing a journey intended to support potentially life-saving treatment, he chose to place someone else’s life at risk,” Andrews said.

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