'Broken woman' held eight-inch knife to throat of Derby taxi driver
A "broken woman" held a knife to the throat of a taxi driver and demanded he hand over his cash during a terrifying early morning robbery attempt. Derby Crown Court heard how the victim had taken Kealey Toal’s mobile phone as insurance when she said she had no money to pay for the fare when she first got in the cab.
But when they arrived at her flat, she got out and instead of returning with money for the fare, produced the eight-inch-long blade and told him she would stab him if he didn’t give the phone back before asking for cash. And in a number of separate crimes committed during a period of around a year, the heavily-convicted 23-year-old assaulted police officers and damaged property, including smashing a glass door at the Royal Derby Hospital.
Jailing Toal, of William Street, for two and a half years, Judge Robert Egbuna said: “When you are high, or using alcohol or as a consequence of your mental health, you are a danger. The taxi driver was petrified, it’s not just physical injury there are also psychological injuries like the sort you have suffered..
“Taking a knife out was a conscious decision, it was a knife that was pretty frightening, it was not like a penknife, it was an eight-inch knife. You wanted to get your phone back and you also thought you would try and get some money. That was a conscious decision, he was a taxi driver and taxi drivers deserve to be protected.”
Lauren Butts, prosecuting, said the knifepoint robbery took place at around 1.45am on April 11, 2022. She said the driver was sent to an address in the city to pick up the defendant and when she got into the passenger seat of the cab he asked for money for the fare upfront.
The prosecutor said: “She said she did not have any money and that she would get it from her mum when he dropped her off at home. He explained the company policy and spoke to his control room which eventually agreed to her request and he asked for her mobile phone (as insurance).
“They arrived at her home and she went into the block of flats to get the money. When she came back she was shouting, demanding he hand her the phone back. She got back in the passenger seat, leaned towards him and he felt something pressed against his neck.
“She said if he did not return her mobile phone she would stab him and reached over and got it. She then demanded he hand over money still while holding the knife to his throat.
“He said he did not have any money, she got out and he called his control room who called the police.” Miss Butts said after being arrested and questioned Toal gave a prepared statement.
She said in it she said: “I am not guilty, I have not robbed any taxi driver, I have not threatened any taxi driver and I have not held a knife to any taxi driver’s throat”.
The prosecutor then outlined other offences committed by the defendant separate to the attempted robbery. They were two counts of criminal damage, one when she smashed a glass door at the Royal Derby Hospital on March 24, last year, and another when she tried to force her way into an Aldi store in the city on July 6, also last year.
Miss Butts said on August 6, 2021, police were called to an incident in Derby and when they arrived Toal spat in the face of one officer and bit another when they arrested her and tried to get her into police vehicles. The defendant pleaded guilty to attempted robbery, threatening a person with a bladed article, three counts of assault of an emergency worker and three counts of criminal damage.
Her criminal record of 16 convictions for 44 offences includes a previous robbery and attempted robbery from when she was aged 16, a knife offence and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Chris Hallas, mitigating, said his client was aware he was addressing the judge solely on the length of sentence she would receive. He said she has been remanded in custody on all of the matters since early January of this year and has “a history of severe trauma since childhood”.
Judge Egbuna said to him: “The real issue you have got to address is that the (pre-sentence) report concludes she’s a danger (to the public).” He replied: “The robbery is clearly the trigger offence in terms of an assessment of dangerousness. She does not shy away from the seriousness of the offending. The pre-sentence report recognises she’s a broken woman.”
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