Man who punched taxi driver so hard it left a hole in his face avoids jail

A man who unleashed a power punch on a taxi driver has avoided jail despite the victim being left with a hole in his cheek.

Taxi driver Adam Bujak had just dropped a fare outside Melksham hospital when the incident started. While assisting the elderly couple from his vehicle, he noticed a car nearby which he thought was about to pull away, nearly hitting his taxi.

Concerned about a possible collision, Bujak called out to the driver of the vehicle, a woman who is suffering from terminal cancer, to watch out for his vehicle.

The court heard how an argument began between Bujak and the woman - who didn't take kindly to his approach.

The woman had reached into his taxi to grab his licence details, which is when the driver pulled her away from the vehicle. She then began to kick him.

The woman then phoned her husband, Shane Darbon, complaining that she had been assaulted by the driver.

Arriving within minutes, Darbon launched his attack on Bujak, punching him so hard that a hole, which required 21 stitches to close up, was left on his cheek.

According to a report in the Wiltshire Times, Darbon, 28, of Melksham, pleaded guilty to GBH.

He was sentenced to an 18-month community order with a requirement to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and up to 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

He must also pay £2,500 compensation and £500 costs.

Taxipoint recently reported on the sentencing of three attackers who left a Derby taxi driver needing hospital treatment for four months following a sickening assault.

Keenan Carter, 18, of no fixed abode, was sentenced to three years and nine months imprisonment at Derby Crown Court on Friday 8 November. Carter pleaded guilty to assault occasioning grievous bodily harm (GBH) on 16 October.

Two teenaged boys aged 16 and 17 also pleaded guilty to affray on the same date. Those under the aged of 18 are ordinarily granted anonymity during the legal process, however, Ki Grant-Finlayson, 16, of Addison Road and Alizsha Diaz, 17, of Abingdon Street, both in Allenton, can be named due to the court lifting a reporting restriction.

Diaz and Grant-Finlayson were each handed a three-year youth referral order. Carter also admitted an unrelated offence of possession with intent to supply class A drugs.

Officers were called to The Morledge in Derby city centre in the early hours of 25 November 2018 after receiving reports that a man was injured.

The man, taxi driver Faisal Raja, was set upon by the three teenagers during a fight outside a takeaway. All three punched and kicked him repeatedly before Carter knocked him unconscious by punching him in the face.

Mr Raja fell to the ground and cracked his head on the pavement. He then spent the next 16 days in a coma and a total of four months in hospital, missing the birth of his daughter.

Taxi drivers across a number of UK cities have called for more protection following an increase in driver attacks, with some drivers and taxi vehicles becoming targets for local yobs who have been throwing rocks through the windows of passing drivers.

Local police, along with council authorities, have stepped up their patrols to help put a stop to the targeted attacks.

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