Taxi Driver Online

Wyke man jailed for metal bar attack on cabbie


A 22-year-old man was locked up for beating a late-night taxi driver with a metal bar.

Judge John Potter branded it a “brutal and thuggish attack” when he jailed Robert Reynolds for 22 months at Bradford Crown Court yesterday.

Reynolds, of Perseverance Street, Wyke, Bradford, pleaded guilty to assaulting Khalid Saleem and causing him actual bodily harm at about 5am on October 29 last year.

He also admitted smashing the wing mirrors on his vehicle and damaging a car belonging to Louise Halliday, who was helping the injured Mr Saleem after he knocked on her door to raise the alarm.

The court heard Mr Saleem suffered significant cuts and bruising when Reynolds struck him to the legs, arms and back with the 2ft-long bar.

Prosecutor Richard Clews said Mr Saleem picked up Reynolds and three other men from outside a takeaway on Great Horton Road. They paid him £10 in advance to go to Holme Wood.

Mr Clews said the men spoke of “not liking foreigners” on the journey. They asked Mr Saleem to stop off at a garage for cigarettes and, although the fare went over £10, he did not ask for the rest of the money.

After they were dropped off, Reynolds told Mr Saleem to wind down his window, punched him in the face and grabbed the ignition keys.

When Mr Saleem got out to retrieve them, he was attacked with the bar and his vehicle damaged.

The cab driver sought help at a nearby house and, after Miss Halliday answered the door, Reynolds set about her car too.

His solicitor advocate, Phillip Ainge, said drink played a large role in Reynolds’ behaviour that night.

He pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity after his arrest in December.

Reynolds was also sentenced for stealing petrol on April 21 while on court bail.

Judge Potter said Mr Saleem’s work as a cab driver in the city late at night made him vulnerable.

Reynolds was found guilty of a sustained attack with an iron bar that caused him significant injury and included damage to two cars

http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/n ... on_cabbie/

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