{"id":459572,"date":"2026-03-05T21:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T21:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/459572\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T21:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T21:58:08","slug":"father-of-child-knocked-over-by-cyclist-wins-legal-appeal-as-court-rules-viral-video-contributed-to-public-debate-on-cyclists-and-pedestrians-cycling-news-bike-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/459572\/","title":{"rendered":"Father of child knocked over by cyclist wins legal appeal \u2013 as court rules viral video \u201ccontributed to public debate on cyclists and pedestrians\u201d – Cycling News | Bike Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The father of a five-year-old girl who was knocked over by a cyclist on a snowy path in Belgium on Christmas Day 2020, the footage of the incident subsequently going viral on social media, has won his appeal against a defamation case brought by the rider<\/a> \u2013 after a court ruled that the video amounted to \u201cfreedom of expression\u201d and \u201ccontributed to the public debate on cyclists and pedestrians\u201d.<\/p>\n

The incident, which took place in Baraque Michel nature reserve, in the province of Li\u00e8ge, sparked widespread online debate after a video posted on Facebook showed the cyclist\u2019s left knee making contact with the girl, named Ne\u00efa, after he came around a bend on a snow-covered path.<\/p>\n

The cyclist, who was 61 at the time of the incident, handed himself into the police after an appeal was launched and spent a night in the cells. The public prosecutor pressed charges of intentional assault and battery to a minor, which could have resulted in a year in jail.<\/p>\n

In March 2021, the cyclist, identified only as Jacques D, was ordered to pay a symbolic \u20ac1 in damages to the child\u2019s family<\/a>. He was also handed a suspended sentence by a judge in Verviers, who agreed that the footage showed the cyclist had been riding too fast and there was insufficient space to overtake safely.<\/p>\n

Later that year the man sued the child\u2019s father for defamation<\/a>. A lawyer for the cyclist claimed that the footage \u2013 shared on social media with a caption asking if it should be reported to the police, before it was picked up by media outlets around the world, provoking shock and anger among many who viewed it \u2013 had caused his client to feel threatened whenever he went outside.<\/p>\n

Patrick Mpasa, the child\u2019s father, said he had not shared the clip to seek revenge, rather to raise awareness, insisting he not \u201cwant a witch hunt, just him to apologise\u201d.<\/p>\n

In September 2023, the cyclist won his defamation case, with Mr Mpasa ordered to pay \u20ac4,500<\/a> (\u00a33,911) in compensation for the value of the bike Jacques says he can no longer use.<\/p>\n

However, on Thursday, that ruling was thrown out by a court in Li\u00e8ge, who argued that the cyclist could not be identified by the video, which was posted as a form of \u201cfreedom of expression\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn essence, the court said that posting the video was a freedom of expression and it was not a crime, so the original ruling was overturned,\u201d Mr Mpasa\u2019s lawyer, Jacques Englebert, told the Daily Mail<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe court said that by uploading the clip, the father had contributed to the public debate on cyclists and pedestrians, and it was not an issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cyclist had argued that by uploading the video, he had been identified, and the initial reports said he was between forty and fifty-years-old when he was in fact well over sixty-years-old.<\/p>\n

\u201cUploading the video did not identify him or his address, he says he was insulted as a result, but has not been able to provide any evidence of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cyclist has also been ordered to pay \u20ac2,040 (\u00a31,770) in court costs.<\/p>\n

When the defamation case was originally brought against the girl\u2019s father in 2021, Mr Mpasa\u2019s lawyer at the time stated: \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

At an earlier hearing on 3 February 2021, the cyclist said that he had not caused the child to fall on purpose.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I left my home and set off, there was hardly anyone there. It was only on this portion, of about one kilometre, near the Baraque Michel, that there were a lot of pedestrians,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI braked, I adapted my speed, and I activated my 120-decibel horn. As I passed the little girl, I felt my rear wheel slipping. To avoid the fall I rebalanced myself by doing a knee movement. I felt that I had touched the little girl but I did not immediately realise that she had fallen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The father of a five-year-old girl who was knocked over by a cyclist on a snowy path in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459573,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-459572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}