SHAME SHAME
FORMER JERSEY TAXI DRIVER LOSES APPEAL OVER “NONCE” TAUNT
A former taxi driver who repeatedly taunted a cab driver at the Weighbridge rank, branding him a “nonce”, has lost her appeal against conviction and sentence. Erin Bisson was fined £300, ordered to pay £400 costs and given a two-year restraining order after the Magistrate found her guilty of “using words that were threatening or abusive within the hearing of another person likely to cause alarm or distress” during the incident in March last year. Ms Bisson appealed to the Royal Court,
raising a number of
grievances including failure to take account of relevant video footage and the fact a witness had not been called on her behalf. The case arose following an incident in the evening at the Weighbridge taxi rank when the
complainant heard someone being called a “nonce”. He looked over and saw Ms Bisson with a young male, and he identified her as the source of the abuse. After two preliminary hearings, Ms Bisson appeared before the Magistrate on 18 November last year when the man who had been with Ms Bisson had originally been listed as a defence witness but was not subsequently called by Ms Bisson’s advocate. In his judgment, Commissioner Alan Binnington, said that the decision not to force the witness to give evidence did not compromise Ms Bisson’s conviction. Noting that the Magistrate was, as a result, forced to choose between the evidence of the cab driver and Ms Bisson, the Commissioner continued: “The Magistrate found
the complainant to be an honest, accurate and reliable witness. “In contrast, she found the appellant to be an evasive and argumentative witness who would not expand on what happened and was not willing to be fully cross-examined. “She found that the word ‘nonce’ was abusive and said multiple times and was satisfied that the appellant used the word many times towards the complainant, and that this was likely to cause alarm and distress,” Commissioner Binnington said. Dismissing the appeal against conviction, the court also rejected the appeal against the sentence passed by the Magistrate, including a restraining order which it said was “entirely appropriate in the circumstances of this case”.
CABBIE JAILED FOR EIGHT MONTHS AFTER POLICE SEIZE £65,000 WHEN STOPPED AT M74 SERVICES
Police seized £65,000 in ‘dirty money’ when they stopped a taxi at Abington motorway services on the M74. Officers had the vehicle under surveillance and had watched as packages thought to
contain
cannabis were dropped off at various addresses. Duc Bui, 27, was jailed for eight months at Airdrie Sheriff Court after earlier “doing a runner” from the building. A jury found him guilty
of
acquiring and possessing criminal property, namely the cash. The court heard that police
58
tracked the taxi on April 27, 2021. It was followed from Birmingham to Glasgow where it stopped to drop off bags and cardboard boxes thought to contain cannabis. National Crime Agency officers seized the cash when they stopped the vehicle at Abington as it returned south. The money was in two Tesco bags. Bui was the only one in the cab and his fingerprints were on the bags. Defence advocate Neil Morrison told the jury: “He had been beaten and threatened by these Chinese people. If he didn’t follow orders he risked another beating. He was
trapped and exploited.” Bui, 27, disappeared during a break near the end of his trial in August. It continued without him and the jury returned a guilty verdict in his absence. Explaining Bui’s absence from the dock, Sheriff Paul Haran told the jurors: “It’s a little bit unusual. The accused did not return to court after a brief break. For want of a better description, he did a runner.” Bui was at large for two months before being arrested. The court heard that he has a previous conviction for producing cannabis.
DECEMBER 2023 PHTM
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
