'Racist' taxi passenger with no cash punches cabbie in face outside Royal Stoke
https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/st ... sh-5248125
Now Scott Smallman has been jailed
Image: Stoke Sentinel
'Vile' Scott Smallman hurled racial abuse at a taxi driver before punching him in the face.
The 37-year-old had got in the cab outside the Royal Stoke University Hospital and asked to be taken to Stoke - despite having no money.
And when the cabbie refused to take him the defendant attacked him.
Now Smallman has been jailed for 12 months at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.
The cabbie had been there to pick up another fare when the defendant got in his taxi on May 12.
Prosecutor Caroline Harris said: "The driver went to get the assistance of security. As they walked to the car the defendant got out. He elbowed and kicked the passenger door. He shouted '****' a few times. He punched the driver to the face striking him to the mouth. The victim was left with a cut top lip and a large dent to the taxi door."
In his police interview the defendant denied he was racist.
Smallman, of no fixed address, who has 37 previous convictions for 116 offences, pleaded guilty to charges of racially aggravated common assault and racially aggravated criminal damage. He also admitted possessing a knife in a public place following an unrelated incident in High Street, Newcastle.
Paul Cliff, mitigating, said the offences were 'unpleasant and upsetting for the victim'.
He said: "The driver was there to provide a service to another customer."
The defendant had stopped using heroin 10 years ago but has issues with alcohol.
Judge Paul Glenn told him: "The police recorded your vile and highly racist comments."
Regarding the Newcastle incident, he added: "You were in possession of a knife. You said you had it to protect yourself from attack when sleeping rough. It is the third like offence within eight months. You have plainly not been deterred from previous sentences. You carry knives habitually and as such you represent a danger because those who carry knives so often use them to catastrophic effect."
