Taxi Driver Online

Five in court accused of race attack




An Asian taxi driver was punched in the face and racially abused by five young men who smashed his cab after a row over a fare, a court heard.

Reading Crown Court was told on Tuesday how Mohammed Ali was attacked after stopping outside Apex Plaza in Forbury Road on January 31, last year.

Andrew Biart, 21, Jack Boswood-Nunn, 19, James Hodges, 22, Thomas Jackson, 22, and Maximillian Merrall-Wyre, 21, are charged with racially aggravated assault and racially aggravated criminal damage.

Damian van Duyvenbode, prosecuting, said: “He [Mr Ali] was punched in the face by the person directly behind the passenger seat [Merrall-Wyre]. This was really the catalyst for rest of the defendants to react violently, punching and kicking inside the cab.”

Mr van Duyvenbode earlier told how Mr Ali had been working that evening when he was approached by Biart, Boswood-Nunn and Hodges at 11pm while he was waiting at the taxi rank in Station Hill.

He said they asked to be taken to a BP petrol station in Wokingham and a second drop-off in Forest Road.

The court heard that Mr Ali believed they were drunk and so told them he wanted £25 in advance to cover their fare but they eventually agreed to a £20 charge.

The court was told the group handed over the £20 but one of the fivers was ripped in half. Mr Ali refused the note, and this caused some tension between the three passengers.

It is alleged a couple of them then got out and made a phone call before the remaining one called them back in and they began their journey.

Mr van Duyvenbode said Mr Ali noticed one of them was still on his mobile phone and turned on the intercom and heard them say, “Where are you? This f***ing **** wants us to pay up front”.

He said Mr Ali stopped the cab outside Apex Plaza in Forbury Road. Mr Ali was then asked by the group to make another unspecified stop, for which he asked for a further £5.

The court heard one of the group told Mr Ali to shut his mouth before they were joined in the cab by Jackson and Merrall-Wyre and the driver continued asking for the extra money.

Mr van Duyvenbode said Merrall-Wyre then punched and threatened Mr Ali saying, “Move your cab you f***ing **** or I will f*** you up”.

The court was told the group then became aggressive in the back of the cab before getting out, kicking the outside of the taxi. They tried to open the driver’s door before Mr Ali got out and all five punched him, causing bruising, said Mr van Duyvenbode.

As Mr Ali tried to get back into the cab and close the door, two of the men forced it open, the court heard.

This resulted in a stand-off with other Asian men armed with poles before police arrived, the court heard.

But under cross examination Mr Ali said one of the defendants had not punched him in the face, but punched the taxi’s glass partition and the broken glass hit him in the face causing his lip to swell.

He said the man responsible was sitting in the tip-up seat behind the front passenger seat. When questioned by Peter Binder, defending Merrall-Wyre, he said Merrall-Wyre was not sitting there but was on the cab’s back seat.

When asked why his account differed from his statement which referred to a punch in the face, he said he was “in shock” when he gave his statement shortly after the incident.

He said the one who punched the glass had “a beauty mark or spot” on the left of his mouth.

Mr Binder asked him if “eight or 10” other taxi drivers with weapons including sticks and a metal pole had launched an attack on the defendants. He responded: “I did not see anyone with weapons.”

Mr Binder also accused Mr Ali of exaggerating the words used by the defendants in his evidence compared to the statement he made to police. Mr Ali responded he did tell police at the time.

Biart, of Ashton Road, Wokingham, Boswood-Nunn, of Lowther Road, Wokingham, Hodges, of Woodward Close, Winnersh, Jackson, of Savory Walk, Binfield, and Merrall-Wyre, of Nash Park, Binfield, all deny the charges.

The trial continues.

http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/s/2105 ... ace_attack

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Why? Hasn't he heard of sellotape?

_________________

http://wingsoverscotland.com/ http://www.newsnetscotland.com/

Racial assault accused claim they are the victims




A 19-year-old accused of racial assault told a court how his birthday celebrations ended when he and four friends were thrown out of a taxi and assaulted.

Giving evidence on Monday, Jack Boswood-Nunn told how he was taken to Royal Berkshire Hospital on January 31, last year, after he was hit across his back with some sort of weapon by a group of cab drivers outside Apex Plaza in Forbury Road.

Boswood-Nunn, Andrew Biart, 21, James Hodges, 22, Thomas Jackson, 22, and Maximillian Merrall-Wyre, 21, are all charged with racially aggravated assault and racially aggravated criminal damage against a taxi driver. But the group claim they were the victims.

Boswood-Nunn told Reading Crown Court that at around 7pm he, Biart and Hodges, along with some others, went for a meal at Royal India restaurant in Wokingham.

They then went to Revolution bar, in Station Road, in Reading town centre, between 9pm and 9.30pm, where the group were joined by Jackson and Merrall-Wyre.

Also giving evidence, Merrall-Wyre said Boswood-Nunn, Biart and Hodges were asked to leave the bar at around 11pm after they lifted the 19-year-old on to their shoulders to sing Happy Birthday.

Biart, in the witness box, said the three men bought a bottle of vodka from Davina’s newsagent, in Station Road, before getting into a taxi driven by alleged victim Mohammed Ali.

Mr Ali claims he was assaulted by the group after a dispute over the fare and he and other drivers who came to his aid were racially abused.

Biart told the court they agreed a pre-paid price of £20 for the journey to either a BP petrol station in Forest Road or Wokingham. As they were setting off Hodges received a phone call from Merrall-Wyre and the men “asked the taxi driver to pull over to wait for him” before agreeing to pay an extra £5 for taking Merrall-Wyre and Jackson to the same destination.

Once the men had joined the group in the taxi, which had stopped close to Apex Plaza, Merrall-Wyre said Mr Ali asked them for “an extra £10” which the group “thought was a bit extortionate”.

Merrall-Wyre said: “We said that was far too much for where we were going because we were all going to the same place and we’d already agreed to pay extra. I said to him if you give us our money back we’ll get another cab because we were all in good spirits.

“He said no he’s not going to until he gets the rest of the money he wanted, to take us to where we were going.”

Merrall-Wyre said Jackson reached through the partition in an attempt to retrieve their cash and “accidentally caught the partition and cracked it” as he pulled his arm back.

Merrall-Wyre, Biart and Boswood-Nunn said Mr Ali told the group to get out of his cab outside Apex Plaza.

Once outside, Merrall-Wyre and Boswood-Nunn said they were met by Asian taxi drivers waving “metal poles and pieces of wood” at them and Biart, Boswood-Nunn and Jackson were assaulted by them.

Biart, of Ashton Road, Wokingham, Boswood-Nunn, of Lowther Road, Wokingham, Hodges, of Woodward Close, Winnersh, Jackson, of Savory Walk, Binfield, and Merrall-Wyre, of Nash Park, Binfield all deny the charges and the trial continues

Taxi driver ‘exaggerated’ claim

Taxi driver Mohammed Ali was accused of ‘exaggerating’ his report of five men subjecting him to a barrage of racist abuse when he gave evidence last week.

However, the court heard evidence from witnesses, including a police officer, who say they heard the defendants racially abusing the drivers.

Mr Ali, giving evidence through an interpreter, said he picked up Biart, Boswood-Nunn and Hodges from the taxi rank in Station Hill, noticed the group was drunk and asked them to pay for their journey up front.

Once inside the taxi Mr Ali claimed he heard one of the men refer to him by an offensive term before they asked to stop near Apex Plaza in Forbury Road to pick up two others.

Mr Ali, a Reading-based taxi driver for the last 13 years, said he asked for extra money at this point and the group became violent. He said the men one of them tried to punch him through the cab’s partition, breaking the screen.

The violence continued outside the cab and the whole group attacked him, he said.

“I was frightened. What was I supposed to do with all of them on me?” he said.

“They did everything they could – they slapped me, they punched me, they kicked me. I had a very painful body.”

Mr Ali said the attack only ended when other people – a mix of taxi drivers and passers-by – pulled his assailants from him. A stand-off is said to have followed where other taxi drivers, allegedly armed with poles, cornered the group near the entrance to Apex Plaza while they waited for police.

Cross-examining, Christopher Surtees-Jones, representing Boswood-Nunn said: “This is a gross exaggeration over a simple dispute over a fare isn’t it?

“You tried to take advantage of these young men to get extra money out of them. The only violence was from your taxi driver colleagues using poles and other weapons.”

The court also heard evidence from British Transport Police officer PC Steven Pennasi, based at Reading railway station, who was leaving work to go home when he saw the dispute.

He told the court: “I saw a male approach the group of taxi drivers saying ‘you f****** ****s, you f****** ****s’.

“He kept approaching them and gesturing to hit them with his right arm. He kept approaching them and I could see that he would go back to the group he was with.”

Biart, of Ashton Road, Wokingham, Boswood-Nunn, of Lowther Road, Wokingham, Hodges, of Woodward Close, Winnersh, Jackson, of Savory Walk, Binfield, and Merrall-Wyre, of Nash Park, Binfield all deny the charges and the trial continues

http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/s/2106 ... he_victims

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

But all that happened after the events in the cab, for which you are before the court.

What happened afterwards is irrelevant to what happened before.

And of course no-one from the trade would support those cabbies that are alleged to have done those things after the alleged attacks on the driver.

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IDFIMH

Mr Mohamed Ali should be and probably will be charged with perjury. The Court heard how he lied habitually during the trial to cover up the fact that he had called many Asian taxi drivers to come to his aid armed with weapons and with the intent to beat five young white males who had done nothing more than ask for their money back, after Mr Ali tried to scam them. Mr Ali is now the subject of a private prosecution. All five men were unanimously found not guilty and quite rightly so said the Judge in his summing up of the ten day trial, after the evidence that they heard from Mr Mohamed Ali. This trial cost the tax payer £15000.00 per day. Mr Ali must have his taxi drivers licence revoked by the authorities. One of the young men involved had unexpectedly and tragically lost his father seven days earlier. This young man’s father’s body was still lying in the morgue at the Royal Berkshire Hospital. What Mr Ali did is a crime and deserves to be punished.

If thats the case then the Police and CPS would appear to be negligent.

I agree in respect of not only Mr Ali, but surely those other drivers need to be brought to justice too?

CC

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

So the police officer and other witnesses lied about the racial abuse?

_________________
IDFIMH

and the paper hasn't reported it?

CC

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Yes it’s a sad day when the Police and the CPS have to take cases to court without evidence in the likely event that if they don’t they will be taken to the PCC.
I will never believe anything I read in a newspaper again.
Unfortunately only sensationalistic reporting sells newspapers.
If the newspaper could be forced to publish the transcript of the trial from day one the public would be shocked. They would then understand why a Jury unanimously found the defendants not guilty of any of the charges. I heard on the day that Mr Ali also kept their money, which has still not been returned.

Five cleared of race attack



Five men have been cleared of racially abusing and assaulting a taxi driver after a night out.

The dad of one of the men said the jury’s unanimous verdict came as “a great relief” and that they all just want to get on with their lives after the two-week trial.

Thomas Jackson, 23, Jack Boswood-Nunn, 19, Andrew Biart, 21, James Hodges, 22, and Maximillian Merrall-Wyre, 21, were all charged with racially aggravated assault and racially aggravated criminal damage after an incident outside Apex Plaza in Forbury Road on January 31, last year.

The men, from Wokingham and Bracknell, were accused by taxi driver Mohammed Ali of racially abusing him, attacking him and vandalising his taxi during a row over a fare.

Mr Boswood-Nunn, of Lowther Road Wokingham, Mr Hodges, of Woodward Close Winnersh, Mr Biart, of Aston Road, Wokingham, Mr Jackson, of Savory Walk, Binfield, and Mr Merrall-Wyre, of Nash Park, Binfield, were all cleared unanimously by the jury at Reading Crown Court on Friday.

http://www.getwokingham.co.uk/news/s/21 ... ace_attack

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Considering the amount of column inches dedicated before the verdict was announced.....the not guilty verdict managed a paragraph!

CC

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

As I said.

So the police officer and other witnesses lied about the racial abuse?

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IDFIMH

So the police officer and other witnesses lied about the racial abuse
I am as taken aback as you are and my intentions to enlighten you are not an attempt to insult your intelligence or demean your comment, but to ask you to read the Court transcript of the case, before you make cynical judgment. These five men were found unanimously Not Guilty of any of the Charges. Why would you have reservations about this? You were not present throughout the trial. However you do have the right to question. I myself would have questioned a story such as this; however I was present throughout the trail and heard the evidence first hand. Do not ever believe anything that you read in the Press. The Press only want to sell newspapers. I myself was pursued by a photographed whilst leaving the Crown Court on day 2. I was chased along the street whilst requesting Katie Lamb, Chief Photographer for Reading Post, to stop filming me, Ms Lambs reaction was to tell me to “ F…… off , she could do what she liked” “ Ms Lamb said that I was a complete idiot, who did not have a clue and she could do as she pleased. Ms Lambs exact words. Unfortunately for Ms Lamb, I can also take photographs and caught her out by filming her on my BlackBerry. Ms Lamb was caught out with the tools of her own trade. Ms Lamb’s snap on my BlackBerry shows her laughing and telling me to F… off, sneering and showing me two fingers. From further correspondence with Reading Post, I have been informed that Ms Lamb is undergoing an internal disciplinary hearing. This was communicated in future e-mail correspondence. The e-mail below shows the Posts initial response.
The photograph of a family member leaving court not only humiliates and intimidates the mother of one of the defendant but is a blatant attempt to incite racial hatred.
The only person guilty of Racial hatred is Mr Mohamed Ali. Mr Ali spews hatred against the Western world. I beg to ask why he is living in the United Kingdom?

From: hilaryscott@trinitysouth.co.uk [mailto:hilary.scott@trinitymirror.com]
Sent: 04 January 2012 16:13
To traibc
Subject: Re: Offensive Photograph
Dear xxx,s
Thank you so much for sending me this photograph. I was really shocked and distressed to see it. But, of course, not as shocked or distressed as you must have been.
I can only apologise unreservedly.
This behaviour is totally unacceptable to this newspaper and I have reprimanded Katie and reminded her of how to behave in public when representing us. This correspondence will go on to her personnel file.
She has worded a personal apology to you which is attached and I hope this is acceptable.
As she says, often scenes where we are taking photographs in a public place can get ugly and our photographers are on the defensive which is probably why she behaved as she did - this is not an excuse at all, simply a possible reason why she overreacted.
I expect all our photographers and reporters to behave professionally and to treat everyone with respect and Katie has let us down.
Once again, please accept my apologies.
Hilary
Hilary Scott
Deputy editor
Reading Post/getreading, Wokingham Times series,
Bracknell Forest Standard
Editor
(0118) 918 3028
8 Tessa Road
Reading
RG1 8NS
twitter: @hilarymscott

My response to your question that the Police are liars is as follows.
The Police did not lie they were not present at the scene. Not a single person witnessed this viscous assault that Mr Ali claims took place. Mr Ali claimed to have been repeatedly beaten by five males. Yet he had no injuries to his person. When questioned by the Court as to why he had no injuries, he maintained the Police had lost the photographs. The Police maintain Mr Ali did not suffer any injury. Under scrutiny in court and under questioning he maintained that his injuries were internal and that is why they could not be seen. Secondly, yes the one witness lied pathologically on the stand and was caught out by the testimony of an off duty Police Officer. The Presiding Judge called the only witness back to Court the following day to be questioned as an assailant. It was then determined that the witness had been one of the main assailants, the most viscous one that carried the weapon with which Mr Boswood Nunn was attacked. In his defence the witness/assailant said in court and I quote “Prove it, you have no proof” The wounds on the young men were medically proven to have been inflicted by weapons such as iron bars, this evidence is irrefutable.
The taxi cab which Mr Alli claimed was kicked and punched and wrecked. Showed no signs of any damage. It would not take a sleuth to work out that if five healthy young males had kicked and punched a taxi cab both inside and out, plus viscously assaulted a human being, there would be some signs of damage. Yet there was none. Why do you think they were found by all Jury members to be not guilty?
The defendants are now seeking their taxi fare of £30.00 back from Mr Ali. I do believe a private prosecution is underway, and quite rightly so. No doubt Mr Ali will disappear from this Country. No loss however.
Mr Ali’s further claimed during the trial that he had not put a radio call out for assistance from his taxi driver friends. Mr Ali was discredited on this point. Records show that Mr Ali asked for assistance from taxi drivers a considerable time before he made his 999 call. Mr Ali claimed that he saw no taxi drivers at the scene, only sympathetic people passing by that could rescue him and spare him this dreadful beating. Mr Ali was repeatedly questioned on this point and denied implicitly that there were any other taxi drivers at the scene or involved. When the 999 call placed by Mr Ali was played to the Court Mr Ali was heard to ask for police assistance as his Taxi driver friends that he had asked to come to his aid, were now in a fight with the white boys. (I myself regard this as a racist remark) The taxi drivers which he had called were now fighting with 5 white males. Does this add up? I think not. Mr Hodges also placed a call to the Police. He further read out the registration numbers of the taxi drivers at the scene. This was heard in Court. Not one of the taxi drivers, whose registration numbers were given to the Police on the 999 call, would co-operate with either the defence or the prosecution, as they had been part of this shocking fiasco, mainly because they were carrying weapons. Why did they scarper when the Police arrived? This was a question that was put to Mr Ali. Mr Ali refused to answer. Yet again he no longer spoke English or understood what a Court interpreter speaking in his own language was asking of him.
Mr Ali’s changed his story from day to day. Conveniently not speaking English when it suited him, yet he has lived in this Country for 12 years and survived. It was pointed out during the trial that he had no problems speaking English to the Police on the night of the incident, or on the 999 call that he placed at the time of the event.
Why did this man who apparently speaks good English, have to have interpreter? Costing the tax payer further.
Mr Ali failed to appear at the Crown Court on the 3rd January for the start of the trial. The Judge had to order the Police to find him. Apparently he forgot that the Court Case was taking place.
If you had been beaten and racially abused, too scared to go to work on a day to day basis. Would you have forgotten to appear for a Crown Court Trial?
Before you make judgement, read the transcript of the Court Records. You will only be devastated that this Country has become so politically correct, that it can bring charges against innocent citizens because they are White. This is a fact, not a racist comment.
In this case Mr Ali is guilty of inciting racial hatred against the indigenous people of the United Kingdom.
Mr Ali must be brought to book. His lies and deceit have far reaching consequences and touch the very heart of British Society. He has tarnished the reputation of all Black Taxi Cab Drivers. Mr Ali’s fictional events have caused the tax payer a tremendous amount of money; it is further thought that Mr Ali was in the belief that he could make quick money from the Criminal Compensation Act as well as covering his illegal activities.
Mohamed Ali has only just realised what he has started and the amount of trouble he is in. Mr Ali will be perused relentlessly in respect of compensation claims, but I guess he will just run away to Pakistan. However I am making an assumption and covering my butt legally by stating this at the end of my blog
We are not living in Pakistan. We conform to Western Society. We are living within the United Kingdom. This is a great Country. One we should be proud off.
I am proud of our Judicial System for seeing through the deceit and lies spun by Mr Mohamed Ali

So the police officer and other witnesses lied about the racial abuse?[/qYes we have the registration numbers. Can you help please?


Yes we have the registration numbers. Can you help please?