Thug stabbed taxi driver after drinking 10 pints
A thug who stabbed a taxi driver when the man insisted on a late-night fare being paid in advance has been jailed for almost three years.
Ryan Mullen had drunk 10 pints and taken cocaine before he struck after ringing for a lift at 1.50am on June 8, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
The 25-year-old was standing outside the offices of A1 Central and Oldbury Cars in Low Town when he made the call, said Mr Paul Spratt, prosecuting.
Mr Ekan Rai was on the premises and got into his cab with the defendant who sat in the front passenger seat of the car and asked to be taken to Erdington.
The taxi driver wanted the £20 fare paid before they left, while Mullen offered to give him more cash at the end of the journey.
“Mr Rai stood firm and was about to ring his firm’s operator when he noticed the defendant put his right hand into his trouser pocket,” said the prosecutor who continued.
“He though he was taking out the money but Mullen produced a knife and stabbed him in the upper part of the left arm.”
The injured man was taken to hospital where the wound was stitched while the attacker fled. He was traced by police through the phone used to made the call for the taxi and found at the friend’s address in Erdington which he had wanted to be taken to. The knife was not recovered.
The incident had a significant impact on the victim who feared that being stabbed in such a confined space could have led to his death, the court was told.
Mullen was locked up for more than four years in 2012 after stabbing a man and, a month before the taxi driver attack, had received a community order for battery after punching an Aston Villa steward at a match.
Miss Amanda O’Mara, defending, said: “He realises there is a pattern between his offending and both binge drinking and drug taking. He does not want to repeat the same mistakes and intends to abstain from both in future.”
Mullen, of Langley High Street, Oldbury, pleaded guilty to wounding and possession of a knife. He was sent jailed for two years and nine months by Judge Nicholas Cartwright who told him: “You were under the influence of a large amount of alcohol and cocaine and have a history of serious offending.”
