No jail for Lye taxi driver after passenger beaten up
11:12am Thursday 10th February 2011
A Lye taxi driver who beat up a passenger after he criticised his driving has avoided a jail sentence.
Abdul Jabar, aged 31, dragged Wayne Clark from his cab during an incident on New Years Day 2010.
Jabar, who admitted assaulting Mr Clark causing him actual bodily harm, was given an eight month jail term suspended for two years.
Wolverhampton Crown Court was told the attack began after Mr Clark complained about Jabar’s erratic driving, saying: "What are you doing? I want to get home in one piece."
Arfan Rauf, a bystander, then joined in the incident and he assaulted Mr Clark, who required three stitches for a head wound, and his friend Ryan Broadbent who was knocked unconscious after being punched and kicked.
Jabbar, of Vicarage Road, was further told to pay £250 compensation to Mr Clark together with £1,000 costs and ordered to carry out 180 hours community punishment.
Rauf, of Grange Road, Lye, admitted assaulting both Mr Clark and Mr Broadbent causing actual bodily harm and he was also given an eight month prison sentence suspended for two years.
He was ordered to pay Mr Broadbent £2,000 compensation for his injuries, £250 compensation to Mr Clark, £1,000 costs and also told to do 200 hours unpaid work in the community.
Recorder Martin Butterworth told the two men they would find incident "extremely expensive" and added: "Your behaviour in both cases was appalling.”
He said: "Jabbar, you are a mature man with responsibility working as a licensed taxi driver and you took umbrage because your driving was criticised so you pulled over and attacked one of your passengers."
He went on: "Rauf, you are also a man who involved yourself in an argument taking place near your home where you were returning after a night out drinking. The result was one of these men was kicked unconscious."
Julian Elcock, prosecuting told the hearing the victims had been enjoying themselves with friends in Stourbridge town centre and they hailed Jabbar's private hire cab to take them home.
One man was dropped off in Netherton and it was then Mr Clark made a comment about what he felt was Jabbar's excessive speed. Jabbar then said to him, "What are you going to do about it?" before pulling into a side street.
Afzal Zaheer, for Jabbar, said his client asked the men to leave his cab and they refused which lead to the assault. He was no longer working as a taxi driver and he was full of remorse for his actions.
Diljit Bachada, for Rauf, said her client accepted he had been foolish to get involved in the incident and he had since avoided alcohol.
Source; http://www.stourbridgenews.co.uk/news/8 ... beaten_up/
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