Cabbie Ran Over Passenger
1st September 2008
A cab driver has been jailed for driving into one of his passengers after they got out following a fares dispute.
The Hackney cab flung the victim into the air and he struck another car on the way down suffering serious injuries.
"It was an incident of using your car as a weapon and a custodial sentence is inevitable," said Judge Brian Lewis.
He told Mohammed Rashel that he was very fortunate he had not been charged with causing grievous bodily harm.
The victim, Christopher Seymour and his two companions, had got out after the argument and Rashel drove off but then did a U-turn.
"You quite deliberately drove your taxi across the road towards them, whether to scare them or deliberately injure, it was a terribly dangerous thing to do, particularly from a professional driver," said Judge Lewis.
"I am prepared to accept there may have been a degree of frustration or even provocation but nothing can possibly excuse what you did," he added.
29-year-old Rashel, of Hale Road, Widnes, had been convicted of dangerous driving after a trial. He was today jailed for 15 months and banned from driving for two years and ordered to take a re-test before he can drive again.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that he had agreed to take the three young men from Liverpool to Ellesmere Port - an area he did not normally go to - on the evening of December 2 last year and had agreed a fixed price.
During the journey he consulted a colleague by telephone and discovered he had used the wrong tariff and a row developed with his passengers when he told them.
He stopped on the A41 at Bromborough on the Wirral and they got out after he refused to take them any further.
"He performed a U-turn to go back to Liverpool but during that manoeuvre drove directly at Mr Seymour at an estimated speed of 30 mph," said Ben Jones, prosecuting.
Mr Seymour tried to jump out of the way but was struck and flung into the air, hitting another car on the way down. He suffered two fractures to his pelvis, two suspected broken ribs, cartilage damage, a laceration to his head and bruising and grazing as well as tenderness and swelling to his right leg and back.
Rashel did not stop and drove off in his damaged cab but was later arrested.
Zia Chaudhry, defending, said that Rashel had never been in trouble before and produced glowing character references. "He is adamant he did not intend to cause injury.
"In terms of size and weight he is not a force to be reckoned with which may have influenced his poor decision that night. He is horrified at what he has done," said Mr Chaudhry.
He is a hard working family man who will lose his job and is unlikely to be licensed as a taxi driver again, he added.
Source; The Asian News
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