Taxi Driver Online

Top Jersey lawyer pleads guilty to assaulting a taxi driver while drunk

A Jersey-based lawyer who regularly defends people in the Royal Court attacked a taxi driver whilst drunk, leaving him afraid to carry out his daily job.

David Steenson pleaded guilty to assaulting a taxi driver while drunk at Jersey's Magistrates Court on Tuesday 17 December 2024.

The prosecution told the court that the victim picked up Steenson and took him to Corbiere on 13 November 2024.

The taxi driver then asked the defendant to pay a fare of £35.55 and waited five minutes, but no payment was made.

During this time, Steenson then proceeded to physically assault the taxi driver, with dash cam footage showing the defendant hitting and grabbing the victim.

Steenson also grabbed the steering wheel while the vehicle was in motion.

Emergency services were called, with the defendant striking the taxi driver several times.

The prosecution told the court the victim is now afraid to carry out his daily job and is wary of who he now picks up.

Steenson must now complete 130 hours of community service for the offence and pay out £2,419.55 in compensation to his victim.

Arriving at the court in the morning, Steenson's defence lawyer - Paul Nicholls - addressed the press saying "Cover some real news" and "pathetic".

Mr Nicholls told the court that Steenson is "of exemplary character".

The defence said that Steenson accepted full responsibility for the assault and is "genuinely remorseful" for his actions.

Mr Nicholls also added that Steenson was claustrophobic which may have contributed to his actions.

David Steenson is a Partner at a legal firm in the island but is currently not practising.

While he can still practice law, the Jersey Law Society will handle a disciplinary process to decide if any further action against him will be taken.

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IDFIMH

I will tell you what is pathetic, the actions of your client, and two the fact that you don't think this so-called professional acting like an animal isn't newsworthy.

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IDFIMH

Was wondering how old this daftie is, so did a bit of Googling

Looks like he's about 55 - I was guessing he would be a lot younger

A few more interesting details in this report, though:

https://www.bailiwickexpress.com/jsy/ne ... xi-driver/

And his daftie defence lawyer is also his business partner - there are three of them in the firm Steenson Nicholls - so that's one of the law firm's partners appearing in court on an assault charge, and another of the partners acting as his defence lawyer

https://steensonnicholls.com/team/

And Steenson, as well as being a criminal defence lawyer, also acts as a crown prosecutor

And here's an interesting nugget that's not been reported above - in 2019 he was in the frame for a 'serious and grave assault' on a 74-year-old pensioner, (looks like it was some incident in a pub) but the charges were dropped:


Crown Advocate ‘assault’ trial dropped

https://www.bailiwickexpress.com/jsy/ne ... l-dropped/

The case against a top local prosecutor accused of assaulting an elderly man has been dropped.

Advocate David Steenson, an experienced defence lawyer and one of the island’s Crown Advocates – a Royal Court prosecutor – was due to stand trial for the alleged ‘grave and criminal’ assault next week.

But yesterday, during a pre-trial review hearing at the Magistrate's Court, the case was dropped following a review of the evidence.

The Crown Advocate - who has always denied the allegation - was arrested and charged with the alleged assault against a 74-year-old man whom he was said to know earlier this year.

no doubt he'll be laying the excuses on

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

I wasn't going to take the pee out of Sussex's error in the thread title, but I see what you did there

In fact, for some reason I thought it would be 'player' as in a Jersey football player (maybe some kind of subliminal association with football jersey )

Or maybe even bricklayer

Lawyer barred from practicing in Jersey for three months after assaulting taxi driver while drunk

https://www.itv.com/news/channel/2025-0 ... ree-months



A Jersey lawyer who assaulted a taxi driver while drunk has been suspended from practicing law in the island for three months.

David Steenson had already been sentenced to 130 hours of community service and forced to pay £2,419.55 of compensation after pleading guilty to the offence at Jersey Magistrates' Court on 17 December.

At the time, the prosecution said Steenson's victim is now afraid to carry out his day job after being struck several times.

Now the Royal Court has banned Steenson from practicing law locally for three months, although that is backdated to 14 November when he voluntarily withdrew from his role as a result of the ongoing legal proceedings against him.

It means Steenson's suspension will be lifted in mid-February.

After he was found guilty of common assault, Steenson was referred to the Royal Court to determine whether he should receive any punishment for breaching Principle 2 of the Law Society of Jersey's Code of Conduct by bringing the profession into disrepute.

A written judgement from the Royal Court will be published in due course and no further comments will be made on the matter by the Law Society of Jersey or the Attorney General.

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IDFIMH

so he gets a 3 month holiday whilst the driver got what is effectively a life sentence as the saying goes

the law(yer) is an ass

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

The lawyer received a three-month ban, which he could easily circumvent by working from home.

However, if the situation was reversed and it was the cabby that bashed the lawyer, then the cabby would more than likely be out of the game for good.

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IDFIMH