Taxi driver threatened with bottle and subjected to racist rant by passenger in early hours rage
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Image: Gwent Police/South Wales Argus
Jonathan Carver turned on taxi driver Zahir Abbas in Newport after he'd agreed a £20 fare and to stop at a cashpoint for his passenger to get the money, Cardiff Crown Court heard
A man threatened a taxi driver with a glass bottle, bent and damaged his vehicle's windscreen wipers, broke the side mirror and threw his phone into the road in an early hours rage fuelled by alcohol and drugs.
Jonathan Carver launched his attack on the taxi driver in Newport after he agreed a £20 fare and to stop at a cashpoint for his passenger to get the money, Cardiff Crown Court heard.
In a victim impact statement the cabbie told Cardiff Crown Court: "I was scared for my own safety. Nothing has ever happened like this in 14 years as a taxi driver."
The court heard Carver flagged him down in Commercial Road in Newport at 4.15am on December 10, 2023.
When the taxi pulled up Carver said he only had £1 and needed to be taken to a cashpoint. This was agreed, but when they got to the Tesco cashpoint he told the taxi driver he would have to use the card for him.
CCTV footage shown to the court at the hearing on October 23 showed both men getting out of the car and then Carver pushing the taxi driver in the chest before threatening him with a bottle.
The defendant was then seen reaching through the taxi window to grab the driver's phone which he hurled into the road.
Carver then bent the front and rear windscreen wipers and broke the taxi passenger door side mirror, causing £213 worth of damage. As he did this he shouted "[edited by admin]" and "P***", Abdallah Barakat, prosecuting, told the court.
When police arrived Carver launched into an even wider foul-mouthed rant telling officers: "f*** that P*** c***" and "dirty, stinking P***", the court heard.
Carver, of Newman Road, Trevethin, Pontypool, was charged and first appeared at Newport Magistrates Court on March 31 this year.
The defendant, who the court heard had 17 previous convictions for 34 offences including criminal damage and breach of court orders, was ordered at that hearing to return to court again in April, but did not and was remanded into custody in June.
In a victim impact statement read out to the court the taxi driver said: "I received no lasting injury during the incident, but I was scared for my own safety. Nothing has ever happened like this in 14 years as a taxi driver. I am not going to allow this to affect me.
"I was disgusted by the way the male spoke to me."
As well as causing £213 damage to the vehicle, Carver caused the driver two days' loss of earnings while the repairs were done.
Carver, who appeared by video link from Cardiff Prison, put his head in his hands as the CCTV footage was shown.
His defence counsel Thomas Stanway said Carver was remorseful and "disgusted by his conduct". He said his client had not returned to court in April because he had meningitis.
He added that whilst Carver had a "poor record" he had been getting back on track until a work colleague had an epileptic seizure and drowned. He had periods of suicidal ideation and had turned to drink and drugs, including cocaine.
Carver had submitted a reference from another taxi driver he used frequently, saying his behaviour on that night was out of character. He also had a gardening and fencing job to go to if he was released.
Sentencing Carver to 28 weeks for threatening a person with a weapon, two weeks for criminal damage and one week for failure to surrender to court, totalling 31 weeks, Judge Eugene Egan said this amounted to more than time served by Carver during time on remand, because the four months he had been on remand amounted to an eight month sentence. That meant, because of time served, he would be released that day.
He also ordered Carver to pay £213 compensation to pay for damage caused to the vehicle within one month and £150 costs within three months.
Before he left the court the judge told Carver his behaviour had been unjustifiable, unseemly and boorish. He said taxi drivers served the public driving, sometimes, late at night.
"This was an unseemly incident. You know that.
"You behaved boorishly and unjustifiably, you threatened with a bottle and caused criminal damage.
"All the time you spent on remand counts against the length of sentence. You will be released today."
