JUST DESSERTS
21 MONTHS’ JAIL FOR DRUNK PASSENGER WHO TRIED TO ROB TAXI DRIVER IN DUNDEE
A sheriff has jailed a knife-wielding thug who held up a taxi driver to get back the £100 fare he had just paid. The Courier reports that Ryan McKeever, 29, threatened Hugh Martin after he had driven him to Dundee’s West End from Glasgow. He pulled back the plastic Covid-protection sheeting and clambered into the front of the cab, brandishing a knife and demanding that he give him money and his wallet in an attempt to rob him. Dundee Sheriff Court heard the taxi driver is still suffering mental trauma after his ordeal. The sheriff sentenced McKeever to 21 months in prison after he previously admitted trying to rob Mr Martin at knifepoint. The court was told how McKeever had
asked Hampden Taxis for a driver to take him from Killermont Street in Glasgow to the city’s Argyle Street at 2.30am. Howev- er, when Mr
Martin arrived, McKeever demanded to be taken to Perth and paid £100 for the fare. “The accused later said he actually needed to go to Perth Road in Dundee,” prosecutor Gavin Burton said. “The accused demanded to be taken up side streets and along roads with no real purpose before shouting to stop.” The driver asked for an extra £40 and McKeever threatened him with a knife.
Mr Martin continued to drive, while looking for assistance and managed to alert a fellow driver. McKeever fled the scene and his description was passed to police. An officer with a dog handler joined the search and McKeever was found a short time later. He was detained and denied having any sharp objects in his possession but officers found a 20cm kitchen knife in his jogging bottoms. It was also established McKeever was in breach of a curfew imposed at Glasgow Sheriff Court. He answered “no comment” to most of the questions put to him by police and had to be taken to Ninewells Hospital after revealing he had taken drugs earlier in the evening.
JAIL FOR MAN WHO BIT HINCKLEY CABBIE AND GOUGED HIS EYE IN REVENGE ATTACK
A cab driver was seriously injured and left with a facial disfigurement from a revenge attack in his taxi. According to the Leicester Mercury, the assailant, Geoffrey Sutton, was said by the prosecution to have issues with the victim, as each had dated the other’s ex-partners. Leicester Crown Court was told that on September 20 the victim was respond- ing to a job in Hinckley and arrived at the defendant’s mother’s home. Sutton got into the front seat, while his sister and niece got into the rear of the taxi. Ben Gow, prosecuting, said during the journey Sutton began calling the driver names, such as “pathetic” and “coward.” The driver said he did not want any trouble and the defendant’s sister tried to avoid further problems by asking the driver to stop and let them out. Mr Gow said: “The defendant launched at the taxi driver, punching him to the
AUGUST 2021
side of his head and began to gouge his left eye with his fingers causing horrendous pain. Sutton then bit his nose causing the victim to scream. “The driver’s foot slipped off the brake and the taxi lurched forwards colliding with part of a pedestrian crossing. “He lost consciousness.” The defendant and his two relatives left the taxi. Passers-by helped the badly hurt victim, whose vehicle was left with £2,000 worth of damage. He went to hospital with bleeding and scratching on the lining of his left eye, a “penetrating wound” to his nose that is now permanently scarred and disfigured, the court was told. He had a fractured left eye socket caused by the defendant and a frac- tured spine resulting from the collision. He was kept in hospital overnight and later made a personal impact statement describing how he had been
mentally and physically affected, unable to work at night, and was suffer- ing from anxiety and being prescribed anti-depressants. When arrested, Sutton, 39, from Hinckley, told officers: “I just lost my head.” He admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent. Mr Gow told the court: “There was an element of revenge to this.” Sentencing, Judge Timothy Spencer QC said: “This attack is shocking, it was vicious and can rightly be described as animalistic. “The victim was doing no more than responding to a request for his services as a taxi driver. “There’s a history of each of you having a relationship with the ex-partner of the other and there was clearly bad feeling on your part.” Sutton was jailed for three years and four months.
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