Cabbie who blinded drunken man in right eye avoids jail term
A cabbie who hit a drunken man in the face and blinded him in one eye has avoided jail.
50 year old Shahab Uddin, of St James Park Road, laid a volley of punches onto his victim after the man slapped and kicked a number of waiting taxis in Mercer's Row, Northampton.
Northampton Crown Court heard that there was no justification for the attack on the victim.
The attack left the man with a broken right eye socket leading to permanent blindness.
Judge Michael Fowler told Uddin that he was responsible for the victim’s injuries, not the victim himself. He also told the cabbie that the victim’s behaviour was no justification for the attack and level of violence which was used.
It was described in court how in August 2017, the victim was out late in Northampton town centre when he walked along Mercer's Row, slapping and kicking taxis as he went along the road, with one of the taxis hit being Uddin's.
Uddin told police that the victim pushed him when an argument broke out, with Uddin reacting by punching the man several times in the head.
After the altercation, Uddin drove away from the scene. He called police as he left to say a man had been injured in town. According to the Northampton Chronicle and Echo, prosecutor Victoria Rose
said in a statement that the victim claimed he had no recollection of the confrontation or how he behaved, and only remembered waking up in hospital. Ms Rose told the court that her client cried for hours when the severity of his injuries were revealed, and that he would be permanently blind in his right eye.
She also stated that the man claims that he is unable to pursue the hobbies he once enjoyed, and is nervous about leaving the house.
Ms Prita Bakshi, Uddin's defence barrister, explained to the court that Uddin was remorseful for what had happened.
Judge Fowler gave Uddin a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years and an order to undertake 180 hours of unpaid work.
Uddin is no longer a taxi driver.
Image Source: Max Pixel
