Man, 20, punched three Bradford taxi drivers in the headhttps://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/ ... vers-head/A man aged 20 who punched three Bradford taxi drivers in the head while bilking them out of their fares has been spared an immediate custodial sentence.Byron Rushforth cadged lifts and then violently attacked the cabbies when they asked for their fare, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.
He also spat on and verbally abused two police officers called out after one of the assaults, prosecutor Abigail Langford said.
Rushforth, of Bowlingfield, Fulwood, Preston, pleaded guilty to assaulting a taxi driver by beating him and making off without paying his £22.50 fare on October 12 last year; assaulting a second cab driver and causing him actual bodily harm, assaulting two police officers by spitting on them, and making off without payment on December 5; and assaulting a third cabbie by beating him, and making off without payment on December 14.
Miss Langford said the first set off offences took place after he had taken a taxi from Illingworth to The New Tyke public house in Thornton Road, Bradford.
When the driver asked for payment, Rushforth punched him in the face.
The victim left his vehicle and described “running to save his life” with Rushforth in pursuit. He also saw the defendant with a large knife, Miss Langford said.
Rushforth struck again in early December after a taxi picked him and two females up and dropped them on Pemberton Drive in Bradford.
The driver was punched in the face three or four times, suffering a cut above his eye and leaving the scene without his payment.
Nine days later, Rushforth attacked a third taxi driver on Bracewell Avenue, Allerton, Bradford, knocking him down before making off.
He had previous convictions for battery, criminal damage, assaulting a police officer and threatening behaviour.
Paul Canfield, Rushforth’s barrister, conceded that he had a bad record for violence.
He had been on remand in HMP Doncaster for three months and would benefit from treatment in the community for his alcohol misuse.
Recorder Judy Dawson said taxi drivers had to trust their passengers. They let complete strangers into their cars, often at night when no one else was around, making them vulnerable.
“Taxi drivers aren’t there to transport you wherever you want to go, and if they have the temerity to ask for their fare, get assaulted,” she said.
Rushforth was sentenced to eight months in a young offender institution, suspended for two years, with 280 hours of unpaid work.
He must attend a nine-month alcohol treatment programme and 35 rehabilitation activity days.
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