Drug user abused a taxi driver and hit ex-partnerA 22-YEAR-OLD thug who racially abused a taxi driver while brandishing a knife through the window of the cab has been jailed for two years and four months.
Alan Barry was high on a cocktail of drink and drugs when he launched the attack after failing to pay the £11 fare.
Three days after admitting the offences in court, he went to his ex-girlfriend’s house and assaulted her, before taking a hammer and smashing up her house.
Rob Welling, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how Barry got exceptionally drunk on June 26 before taking the taxi.
He had been at a friend’s house in Bunce Road, Stratton, where he carried on drinking and took cocaine before getting the cab to Crawford Close, Freshbrook.
After telling driver Wali Rehman he needed to get some cash, he went into a house then returned with the knife.
Barry leaned through the window and hollered: “Where’s my wallet? You took my wallet, you dirty Arab.”
The driver was so scared that he grabbed the knife by the blade and, after a brief struggle, it came away from the handle.
Barry fled without paying the fare and soon after told a friend: “I have just stabbed a taxi driver because he was an Arab.”
Mr Welling said Barry admitted the incident on Friday, November 18, and was released on bail. At 8am the next Monday morning, he went to his ex-girlfriend’s house.
She answered the door and he pushed past her into the house, as he was upset about something she had said to a mutual friend.
He pushed her onto her bed and picked up her £450 iPhone before smashing the landline handset to stop her calling the police. Barry then punched her hard to the cheek before landing a further four blows, leaving her with a lump the size of a conker on the back of her head.
He then got a hammer from a cupboard and smashed crockery, a freezer, mirror and other household items.
Barry, of Anemone House, Curie Avenue, admitted a racially aggravated version of putting a person in fear of violence, having an offensive weapon, making off without payment, common assault, criminal damage and theft.
Hassan Baig, defending, said Barry did not have a history of offending until recently, which was put down to his use of drink and drugs.
He said he was clearly a troubled young man who needed help with his issues and urged the court not to pass an immediate jail term.
Jailing Barry, Recorder Leslie Blohm QC said: “In my view it is quite unrealistic to suggest in these circumstances you should not have an immediate custodial sentence.
“In my view, I would be failing in my public duty if I did not impose a period of imprisonment.”
http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news ... x_partner/
Login
Register
FAQ
