0
Muslim taxi driver who knocked down eight men by driving cab 'like a bowling ball' after row is jail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-15-years.html
A taxi driver was yesterday jailed for 15 years for mowing down eight men 'like a bowling ball' with his black cab.
Majid Rehman, 29, deliberately used his car to run over the men walking on a pavement after a row at a railway station taxi rank.
A court heard how furious Rehman deliberately ran a red light and drove 'at speed' towards six railworkers as they walked home from the station, just yards from the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
Shocked commuters watched as his cab ploughed into the six railmen and two innocent passers-by in rush hour carnage.
Judge Phillip Richards told him: 'You sent bodies flying in all directions, one being trapped under your car.
'Your intent was to cause them all serious harm. It was intolerable behaviour in a civilised society.'
The court heard Rehman was on the taxi rank outside Cardiff Central train station when a row flared with the railway workers.
Prosecutor Claire Wilks said: 'Six of the men were leaving the train station wearing high visibility orange suits as they walked away from the train station. Along the way some of the group began to argue with Rehman.
'Eventually the group left the area.
'But it seems Rehman wouldn't let it be. He left the taxi rank and drove after the group of six railway workers - according to one witness even going through a red light.'
Carnage: Onlookers said he hit the men 'like a bowling ball' with his black cab
Two innocent men Mark Underwood and Richard Partridge were walking in front of the group on the pavement - and had nothing to do with the railmen.
Miss Wilks said: 'As they walked away from the railway station, Rehman drove his taxi, and in a rage, mounted the pavement and collided with the group of eight men.
'It was a deliberate manouvre at some speed, knocking them down like a bowling ball knocking over pins in an alley.
'Some of the men were more fortunate than others.
'Mark Underwood was trapped under the taxi and suffered significant burns to his back, legs and arms as he was wedged under the hot engine.
'It was a chaotic scene, emotions were running high, and Rehman was pulled out of his taxi and assaulted.'
The jury was shown CCTV footage of the taxi mounting the curb at 14mph outside Cardiff central train station on March 27.
Mr Underwood needed extensive skin grafts to his back and is still receiving treatment.
Rehman told officers at the scene he drove towards the group of men after being attacked by the railworkers on the taxi rank outside a main railway station.
He told police officers at the scene: 'No one drives at people for nothing. They assaulted me and it was in self defence.'
Crime scene: Rehman told the jury 'I don't remember driving onto the pavement and I don't know why I did it'
Cardiff Crown Court heard Rehman had given evidence against one of the railway workers in a robbery court case in 2009.
Rehman said the railway workers had spotted him sat in his taxi and punched him in the chest.
Rehman told the jury: 'I got into my cab to drive home. I don't remember driving onto the pavement and I don't know why I did it.'
It took a jury less than two hours to unanimously convict Rehman of deliberately knocking down eight people inflicting grievous bodily harm and unlawful wounding. He admitted dangerous driving.
Judge Philip Richards said: 'You used a vehicle as a weapon to attack other people.
'If a minor incident of a punch and some abuse is met with this kind of reaction then society is going to be reduced to ruin.
'This was an extremely serious crime which you committed in anger following what was a modest dispute between you and a group of men returning home from work on the railways.
'One of those men punched you once to the chest. It was by no means a devastating blow.
Rehman, of Grangetown, Cardiff, was jailed for a total of 15 years and disqualified from driving for 10 years.
Reply With Quote
Baseball Bat + Orange = Juice 
United States
Bookmarks