A FAMILY whose lives were turned upside down by a random act of violence say they are still fighting for justice.

Former nursery nurse Sarah Chambers was crushed against a garage sign in August 2005 when she was six months pregnant with her son William.

But, even though a doctor has been convicted of assaulting her and dangerous driving, Miss Chambers and her family claim the police badly mishandled the case.

Dr May Arnaot, aged 52, formerly of Chandlers Drive, Erith, was convicted at Blackfriars Crown Court of dangerous driving and common assault following the incident.

The Iraqui doctor, who practises privately, was cleared of racially aggravated assault on Sarah Chambers, on the orders of the judge.

The jury failed to reach a verdict on charges of actual bodily harm against Miss Chambers and common assault against her fiance Steven Boakes.

But Miss Chambers and her father George claim that if Bexley police had collected all the available medical evidence of Miss Chambers' injuries, Arnaot would have been convcted of the more serious charge of actual bodily harm.

They claim the extent of Miss Chambers' injuries was never put before the jury.

In fact she suffered severe internal bruising, which has damaged her back.

She is still receiving painkilling injections and physiotherapy.

As a result of the incident, she developed post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and spent time in a mental health hospital. She is still on medication and receiving counselling for the condition.

Because of the damage to her back, she had to give up her job as a nursery nurse and lost all her maternity pay.

The couple have had to move home, because Miss Chambers can no longer climb stairs, and has difficulty bending down.

And because of her mental health problems, she will never be able to work with children again.

The couple are now struggling to survive on Mr Boakes' supermarket warehouse wage.

A warning from doctors that their baby might have been brain damaged in the incident added to Miss Chambers' agony.

Fortunately, their fears proved unfounded.

Mr Chambers was so horrified at the way his daughter's injuries were being brushed aside in court, he went to Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, where she was treated, and to their GP, and collected the evidence.

The GP and two doctors treating Miss Chambers for PTSD came to the court to give evidence on her behalf.

But the judge ruled it was too late.

Miss Chambers told News Shopper: "I am so angry and so annoyed that people may have thought I was exaggerating and not telling the truth.

"This experience has been the centre of my life for two years, but not anymore. I have got to concentrate on my son now and be thankful for everything I have still got."

She said she owed a big thank-you to all the witnesses who came forward to give evidence and to the ambulance crew who came to her aid.

Miss Chambers added: "I am angry with the police, who let me down. I would hate anyone else to have to go through what I did."

Mr Chambers remains convinced that had the police acted properly, Arnaot would have been convicted of a more serious assault charge.

He said: "I am very disappointed. She should have been charged with more. I am really annoyed. Sarah was badly let down."

Mr Chambers claims he also had to give the judge his own statement of the impact the incident had made on his daughter's life, after the police told him not to bother.

Now he plans to make an official complaint about the police's lack of action.

The family also plans to try and get some compensation for their daughter, from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, to help pay off the couple's debts caused by Miss Chambers' injuries.

But Mr Chambers says he fears the lesser charge of common assault and the lack of evidence presented to the trial may compromise Miss Chambers' case.

THE INCIDENT

Blackfriars Crown Court heard how Miss Chambers and Mr Boakes, both then 25, were driving home when their Ford Fiesta almost collided with Arnaot's Nissan Xtrail 4x4 as they came off the A2 slip road at the Black Prince interchange, Bexley.

The couple's car was nearly forced onto the pavement as Arnaot squeezed past them in the outside lane.

Miss Chambers had to grab the steering wheel to avoid a collision.

The pair clashed again at the traffic lights in Gravel Hill, Bexleyheath, when Mr Boakes went to speak to Arnaot about her driving. The court heard that the GP drove through the red light, then reversed back, missing Mr Boakes but ramming the front of his car.

Arnaot, who now lives in Walderslade, near Chatham, denied this and alleged Mr Boakes had punched her and tried to assault her twice more.

The couple followed the Nissan into the BP petrol station in Northumberland Heath, where Miss Chambers approached Dr Arnaot telling her: "Excuse me, I don't know if you realise but you have just hit our car," and asked for her insurance details.

Witnesses, including two crew who were refuelling their ambulance, described Miss Chambers as "calm and polite" and Dr Arnaot as "agitated and abusive".

Van driver Neil Clements said she was "like a woman possessed".

Dr Arnaot then began to drive out of the garage, allegedly crushing Miss Chambers against an exit sign.

As Miss Chambers collapsed in agony and was attended by the ambulance crew, Mr Boakes ran down Bexley Road to where the Nissan was stuck in traffic, and snatched the keys from the ignition to prevent Dr Arnaot from driving off.

The defence suggested it was because she was frightened and felt threatened by the couple because they had followed her.

Christopher May, prosecuting, suggested Dr Arnaot was obsessed with getting to a 9.30pm appointment that night and had lost her temper.

In her statement, Miss Chambers claimed Arnaot had shouted at her: "You are Tony Blair's bitch. All you white people are the same. You all vote for Tony Blair."

When she was crushed, Miss Chambers said she was so frightened, she wet herself.

Miss Chambers' statement could only be treated as hearsay because she was not there to be cross examined, and Judge Deva Pillay ordered that there was not enough evidence to prove the charge of racially aggravated assault.

Arnaot, who called police claiming she had been attacked, later called one of the ambulance crew who offered to move her car an "English racist pig".

And in her statement she accused police of siding with the "English, Kentish, blond people and their witnesses".

Arnaot denied dangerous driving on the approach road to Gravel Hill, Bexleyheath, in Gravel Hill and on the forecourt of a BP petrol station in Bexley Road, Northumberland Heath, on August 10 last year.

She also denied destroying or damaging a Ford Fiesta car belonging to Miss Chambers' partner Steven Boakes, actual bodily harm on Miss Chambers and common assault on Mr Boakes.

The jury were directed to find Arnaot not guilty of racially aggravated assault.

Dr Arnaot declined to give evidence in her defence and called no witnesses.

In a statement to police, Arnaot rejected this version of events and told police Mr Boakes had punched her with a "horrible outraged look in his eyes" and had tried to attack her a second and third time.

Mr Boakes' car was an insurance write-off after the incident, but David Jubb, defending, suggested that the car was already damaged and suffered nothing from Arnaot.

In mitigation James Tilbury said at the time Arnaot had been ill and suffering from extreme menopausal symptoms which caused mood swings and irritability.

He said Arnoat's aged mother was physically and financially dependent on her daughter and that Arnaot's brother relied on his sister to pay the cost of his studies at an English university.

He added: "This criminal process has had a devaststing effect on her both professionally and personally.

  • Arnaot was sentenced to four months jail for a previous racially aggravated assault on a railway worker in October 2004, six months jail for dangerous driving on August 10, 2005 to run consecutively and four months jail for common assault on Miss Chambers to run concurrent. All sentences were suspended for two years.

Arnaot was also banned from driving for 12 months and given a 12-month supervision order.

No order was made for compensation to Miss Chambers.

  • Arnaot's licence to practice medicine was suspended by the General Medical Council in November 2005 and the GMC is expected to apply on April 18 to extend the suspension.

PREVIOUS ASSAULT

Arnaot, who was previously convicted of another assault on a stranger, lost her appeal against a conviction for a previous racially aggravated assault.

She nearly pushed a railway employee off the platform and called him a "black bastard" during a confrontation at Kings Cross Thameslink railway station, 10 months before her assault on Miss Chambers.

She appealed against the conviction at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court in February this year, but lost.

Railway worker Robert Patrick, aged 33, told the court he had been working a late shift at the station on October 23, 2004, when he heard Arnaot shouting at the bottom of a flight of stairs.

At the time, he was busy helping another passenger.

Mr Patrick claimed Arnoat shouted twice "Where's the f****** ticket office?"

He went on: "Soon after, as I was talking to the gentleman, she came up to me and pushed me in my chest towards the yellow line (on the edge of the platform). She said Where's the f****** ticket office?' A train was coming any second."

Mr Patrick told the court that despite Arnaot's aggression towards him, he had been quite calm.

He continued: "I said Bear with me a moment madam, I'll be with you in a minute.' "With this, she slapped me on the left side of my face and spat and sprayed my face. I said Please don't do that madam'."

Mr Patrick said that despite never having seen her before, Arnaot then shouted at him "Why don't you go back to f****** South Africa - you have been here three months and I'm paying your wages."

He claimed Arnoat then turned round and called him a black bastard.

At this point a station security guard arrived and Mr Patrick said Arnoat was aggressive towards her too.

Colleagues called the police and Arnaot was arrested at the station.

She was convicted by Horseferry magistrates of racially aggravated common assault on Mr Patrick and in June 2005, magistrates gave the Iraqui-born GP a four-month jail sentence, suspended for two years.

After hearing the evidence at her appeal, Judge Duncan Matheson QC dismissed her application, although Arnaot has indicated she may now try to appeal against her sentence.

It was just months later, and during her suspended sentence that Arnaot encounted Miss Chambers.

There are also claims that Arnaot racially abused a bank worker in Bexley and a business woman in Blackfen, but no charges were brought in either incident.