Plymouth taxi driver who assaulted female fares warned to complete unpaid work or face jailA TAXI driver who failed to turn up to complete his unpaid work order – after being found guilty of assaulting three female fares – has been told he risks prison if he keeps missing the sessions.
Augustin Marian, of Union Street, was arrested following an incident at Sherwell Arcade in North Hill on August 11 last year.
He was found guilty following trial on December 1 of three counts of assault by beating. The victims were described as three females who were passengers of his Hackney cab.
Marian, aged 33, was handed a community order and told to carry out 120 hours unpaid work over the next 12 months. He was also ordered to pay £500 compensation and pay a Criminal Courts Charge of £520.
Marian recently appeared before Plymouth City Council’s taxi licensing committee where they made a decision as to whether he was considered to be a ‘fit and proper’ person to retain a taxi licence.
The council said it was unable to confirm their decision, but revealed Marian had until March 1 to lodge any appeal against the committee’s decision.
At Plymouth Magistrates Court, prosecutor Beverly Wilmott explained how Marian had missed a number of appointments to carry out his unpaid work.
Marian, who was unrepresented, said he showed up at one of the appointments but they rescheduled his appointment. The next time he had worked two shifts as a taxi driver having taken a long distance job and so could not attend.
He explained to magistrates he had a year to carry out the unpaid work, but he also needed to work to put food on the table.
Marian explained he was going to lose his taxi license within the next two weeks and needed to earn money now rather then attend the unpaid work appointments.
The chair of the bench attempted to explain to Marian that he had to attend each appointment.
In response, Marian said: “I know I have to do unpaid work, but I’ve things to do myself.”
The clerk of the court then explained to Marian: “If you don’t do the hours the probation service tell you, then you can be brought back to court and sent to prison – that’s how series it is, okay?”
After a brief discussion, the chair of the bench told Marian: “You have a community order for 12 months and once the hours are complete, you’ve still have the community order.
“We are prepared to allow you to carry on with this order. Should you breach it again, because you haven’t turned up and haven’t given evidence as to why you can’t attend, the chances are you will end up serving a prison sentence.”
Marian was ordered to complete a further 20 hours unpaid work and pay court costs of £50.
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http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/Plymout ... z40dzg82QA
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