A man has been found guilty of brutally punching a taxi driver in an unprovoked, racist attack. In May this year, David Platt, 30, and a woman got into the taxi in Monsall before they asked to be taken to a convenience shop in Harpurhey, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Minutes later, they returned to the taxi and asked to be taken back to Canons Grove, but gave the driver different instructions, leading him to a ‘dead end’ street.
The driver then felt a punch to the right side of his face, before he ran out of the car in shock whilst it was still rolling. The woman ran away, whilst Platt, of Canons Grove, Monsall, shouted at the taxi driver: “I’m going to knock you out.”
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He then motioned to the driver about his traditional Pakistani clothing and said: “Look what you are wearing, P*** b*****d”.
Platt admitted inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent but denied racially aggravated wounding. A jury has since found him guilty following a trial.
Giving evidence, Mohammed Zubair, a taxi driver for Cresta Cars, said he picked up Platt and a woman from near his home after having to beep his horn when they were running late. He said he was wearing ‘traditional Pakistani clothes’ including a long robe as it was the second day of Eid and he was going to celebrate with his family.
“They (the couple) said they were going to the shop on Rochdale Road and I drove there,” he said. “They told me to put the radio on, they just told me to go to the shop and I went. They both went into the shop and returned after a couple of minutes.
“They said they wanted to go back and I thought they were going back to Canons Grove.”
Mr Zubair said Platt sat directly behind him and the woman sat directly behind the front passenger seat on the return journey. On the way back, he said the couple asked him to turn right instead of left, which would have taken them back to Canons Grove.
“This was a dead end, I thought they were getting out so I slowed down the vehicle. Then all of a sudden he just punched me,” Mr Zubair told the court.
“He was sitting right behind me and it was a single blow, underneath my right eye. As soon as this happened I got out of the car whilst the car was still rolling.”
Mr Zubair said the woman ran off after the assault. He then realised the car was still moving and ran over to put it into park.
“He got out and he was shouting at me,” Mr Zubair continued.
“He said: “I’m going to knock you out”. I was confused, shocked. I didn’t know what was going on. He tried to come closer but I made enough distance from him.”
Platt then said: “Look what you are wearing” and “P*** b*****d”. He then told Mr Zubair to ‘get back into your car’.
Asked how he felt by the comments, Mr Zubair said: “I was feeling confused and shocked. I did not expect that. This was completely shocking to me."
He added that having to tell the police what Platt said to him left him feeling ‘ashamed’.
After reporting matters to the police, Mr Zubair then went to hospital where he was treated for a small fracture to his right cheekbone, as well as an injury to his eyelid, it was said.
In his police interview Platt denied the assault, stating: “I just don’t go around banging taxi drivers for no reason. It doesn’t make sense. He has been banged or robbed by one of the young ones.”
Platt later admitted the assault, but claimed in the witness box it was because he had ‘seen the taxi driver masturbating’. He admitted he had ‘lied’ in his police interview, saying that he just ‘wanted to go home’.
He told jurors that he saw Mr Zubair ‘touching himself’ and struck him with one hand. He said he then got out of the car and called him a ‘scruffy c***’.
In cross examination, he was asked by prosecutor Hunter Gray if he challenged Mr Zubair about what he alleged happened inside the taxi. He said: “I don’t have to say anything, see what he’s done, just assault him.”
But jurors denounced his claims, and found him guilty of racially aggravated assault after one hour and 54 minutes of deliberations.
Platt, of Canons Grove, has now been jailed for 20 months.
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