Taxi passenger stabbed at car after driver refused to allow him in with 12-inch knife Asylum overstayer Hassan Hussain was then Tasered by police before being arrested :: He told officers he had “problems with his head”A taxi passenger took umbrage when a cabbie refused to let him back into the cab carrying a 12-inch kitchen knife.
Iraqi asylum over-stayer Hassan Hussain showed his displeasure by stabbing at the car with the knife, a court heard.
The 23-year-old paid £6 in advance and took a journey from Grange Road, central Middlesbrough, to Selbourne Street, Gresham, at 2.25am on September 9 last year.
Intending to return to town, Hussain went into a house and came back out with the kitchen knife, Teesside Crown Court was told.
The driver refused to take him in the taxi unless he discarded the weapon.
Prosecutor Sue Jacobs said Hussain then attacked the taxi, stabbing its doors and windows shouting: “Give me my money back.”
She said the frightened taxi driver felt it was a “life and death situation”.
When police arrived he ran into a house and was Tasered and arrested.
Hussain said he had “problems with his head”.
He caused £300 damage in scratches and puncture marks to the vehicle.
Hussain, of Keith Road, Grove Hill, Middlesbrough, admitted possession of an offensive weapon and criminal damage.
Kate Dodds, defending, referred to depression, self-harm attempts and suicidal thoughts.
She said he needed help with his alcohol problem and immigration status and his partner had offered him a home.
Judge Peter Armstrong said the offence was serious because of the risks of having knives in public.
He said Hussain had fled troubles in Iraq and lived rough in a hand-to-mouth existence.
The judge decided Hussain needed help as well as punishment, and two months already served on remand was enough to teach him a lesson.
He passed a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years with a year’s supervision and six months’ residence.
http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teess ... th-7254421
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