Taxi driver subjected passenger to violent attack in dispute during late night journey from Newcastle city centrehttps://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/no ... t-15239975Payblue Guebo 'lost control' and subjected a fellow taxi driver he had picked up in Newcastle city centre to two episodes of violence during a disagreementA taxi driver subjected his passenger to a violent attack after getting into a row during a late night journey.
Payblue Guebo had picked up a fare in Newcastle city centre but on the way home a woman realised she had left her bag in town.
Guebo was asked by the woman and her partner - himself a taxi driver - to go back to retrieve it and after initially agreeing, he suddenly stopped the car and insisted on payment there and then.
A dispute blew up which turned into a physical altercation, with the passenger saying he was pinned against railings, punched and stamped on - although Guebo denies stamping.
A second episode of violence then followed, which was caught on mobile phone footage and showed the cabbie raining punches on the victim in the street.
Now Guebo, 33, who admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm, has been given a suspended prison sentence at Newcastle Crown Court.
Judge Simon Batiste told him: "The public have a right to expect taxi drivers will behave themselves in a good way.
"It's a job where there is provocation but the public are entitled to expect violence will not be meted out by taxi drivers.
"Whatever caused this incident in the street, it's clear you completely lost control as the footage shows you raining punches on the complainant, with you having knocked him to the floor and continuing to repeatedly punch him to the face.
"This is clearly a sustained assault and while there may have been, initially, some self-defence issues, it's always a serious matter when a taxi driver attacks a customer."
The court heard Guebo has a previous conviction for criminal damage, which also occurred while he was working as a taxi driver and damaged a wing mirror with a hammer during a dispute.
Judge Batiste said: "It's clear you are unsuited to working as a taxi driver with vulnerable members of the public."
It was in the early hours of January 21 when Guebo, working for Budget Taxis, picked up the couple and a friend on Westmorland Road, outside a takeaway, and was asked to take them to Chapel Park.
The friend was dropped off and it then became apparent the woman had left her bag at the takeaway.
In the dispute which followed, Guebo pleaded guilty on the basis he asked them to get out of the car and the man refused before punching him in the face. He accepted the violence he then dished out went beyond self-defence.
The victim suffered bruising and swelling, the court heard.
He said his job entails taking vulnerable children to and from school and he was worried about the effect on them, and his own children, of seeing his injuries.
Guebo, of no fixed address, was sentenced to six months suspended for 18 months with 80 hours unpaid work.
Jeff Taylor, defending, said: "He lost control.
"He no longer pursues his desire to be a taxi driver."
Mr Taylor said Guebo will have to pay off a £20,000 debt from buying the vehicle from his job as a takeaway delivery driver. He is also training to work in a factory.
Mr Taylor said Guebo pleaded guilty on the basis there was no stamping.
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