Taxi driver assaulted trying to get drunken passenger to leave his car COMPENSATION: Defendant's main penalty for assault was by was by way of £1,600 compensation order passed at Durham Crown Court
A TAXI driver was assaulted by a drunken customer as he tried to get him out of his car, a court heard.
Jake Declan Daley took exception to being asked to leave the vehicle, after the driver pulled into a bus stop on Gilesgate Bank, Durham, fearing that his passenger was going to be sick as they headed into the city centre.
Durham Crown Court heard that the driver went round to the front passenger side, opened the door, and asked Daley to get out of the vehicle.
Stephen Duffield, prosecuting, said Daley refused to get out, and then assaulted the driver, punching him in the face.
Mr Duffield said the cabbie was knocked unconscious and went to the ground, where he was kicked, “on more than one occasion”, as he lay beside his vehicle.
“By good fortune a passing pizza delivery driver, who knows the taxi driver, saw what happened and chased the defendant away.”
Mr Duffield said police were informed and Daley was arrested after being found hiding in a nearby garden.
The driver was taken to hospital suffering a swollen left eye, and tenderness to the cheek and jaw bones, amid fears one may be broken.
He was treated with a total of 21 stitches, although, an x-ray confirmed there was no fracture.
Daley told police he was pulled out of the taxi by the driver, who he claimed was acting aggressively, and, feeling threatened, threw two punches.
It was an account the 19-year-old defendant, of Wear View, Byers Green, Spennymoor, maintained at his trial at the court this week, having admitted causing grievous bodily harm, but denied the more serious charge of doing so with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The court heard Daley had flagged down the taxi as the driver was heading back into Durham near the end of his shift, at 2.45am, on October 25, 2014.
Daley asked to be taken to Spennymoor, but, as he had insufficient funds to meet the fare, the driver agreed to at least drop him in the city centre.
It was on that short ride into Durham that the incident took place.
Following a short period of deliberation the jury returned a not guilty verdict on the charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
Sentencing Daley for the offence he admitted, Recorder Jeremy Hill-Baker said the main penalty should be by way of compensation to the driver for the injuries he suffered.
He, therefore, imposed a £5 fine, with a £20 statutory surcharge, and ordered Daley to pay the driver £1,600 compensation.
source:
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/l ... _his_car_/
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