GLASGOW NEWS
GLASGOW CABBIE WHO BATTERED RACIST MAN WHO SPAT IN HIS MOUTH KEEPS LICENCE
A taxi driver who repeatedly punched a man accused of calling him a ‘black b******’ and spitting in his mouth at a petrol station has been allowed to keep his licence. Asif Nawaz has been warned over the incident but faced no other action after councillors were told he was racially abused. Mr Nawaz pleaded guilty to assault to severe injury, with permanent disfigurement, and was ordered to carry out 225 hours of unpaid work. But his solicitor, Waqqas Ashraf, told the licensing committee his client had been provoked – and this had been accepted by the court. Police Scotland objected to the licence bid due to the conviction, which followed an incident at Esso petrol station on Maryhill Road in September 2021. Mr Ashraf said, initially, the background was “somewhat disputed between the defence and the Crown” but, in June this year, the court had established Mr Nawaz had been provoked. The lawyer said the victim had complained he had needed to jump out of the way as Mr Nawaz drove through a puddle when he pulled into the petrol station. Mr Ashraf said his client had apologised but a “significant amount of abuse” was directed at the driver. “I’m reluctant to say what he did say but I think I must to your honours, Mr Nawaz was called a ‘black b******’ and thereafter he was told he was going to get ‘a doing’.” The licensing committee was told Mr Nawaz told the man to go away but the abuse continued with the
PHTM DECEMBER 2022
victim gesturing to start a fight. Mr Ashraf then alleged the abuse, which was “racial in nature”, continued as the taxi driver put fuel in his car and, as Mr Nawaz went to pay, the man barged his client, who didn’t react. He claimed the victim had said he had a knife but Mr Nawaz believed he was trying to scare him. The man walked alongside Mr Nawaz as he approached the shop and “then spits in his mouth”, councillors were told. This was “the straw that broke the camel’s back”, Mr Ashraf said. “It was an immediate retaliation in that he saw red and punched the complainer four times, causing him to fall to the ground. “Had he punched him once, perhaps twice, there could have perhaps been an argument that it was self defence.” Mr Ashraf said the driver then paid for his fuel, got back into his vehicle and contacted the police. He was told to go to Maryhill Police Station, the committee heard, where the man was also present. “What was agreed between the Crown and the defence is that when they got into the station, the complainer stated ‘I have been assaulted and this is the guy who done it’,” Mr Ashraf said. “The accused, Mr Nawaz, replied ‘Aye I did do that to your face because you spat on me and called me a ‘black b******’.” Mr Ashraf said his client “fully accepts that he took it too far, he should have simply got back in his vehicle and phoned the police”. Father-of-two Mr Nawaz has been working as a taxi driver for almost
20 years and told the committee he has “suffered horrific abuse over that period”. Cllr Zen Ghani said: “I’m sorry to hear that you’ve had horrific experiences, I completely under- stand where you are coming from in terms of racism. It can be a scarring experience. “Do you regret what’s happened and is there anything you would do differently?” Mr Nawaz said: “100%. If it happened again, I would ignore it and just phone the police. I lost my temper, during covid it was a stressful time. It will never happen again.” Cllr Alex Wilson, the licensing committee chairman, said: “We are all sickened to hear the level of abuse that Mr Nawaz has suffered. My colleagues have also suffered that kind of abuse in the past and there is no place for it. “Provocation is a difficult one in terms of how far does someone push you before you actually snap? That is something that we would hope Mr Nawaz, going forward, would just take a step back.” Mr Nawaz, who was suspended for 14 months after the incident, had applied to renew his taxi driver licence for three years, but the committee only granted a one-year extension. They also warned the driver over his future behaviour. Mr Ashraf said the complainant has “subsequently been charged with an assault offence and there is a racial aggravation attached to that offence”. “The complainer is subject to criminal proceedings and he is on petition, currently on bail.”
45
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88
