Man jailed for robbery and assault on Muslim taxi driver

The Burton Mail reports on the jailing of a man for robbery and violent assault on a Muslim taxi driver last year.

Richard Williams, 47, pled guilty to charges of racially aggravated harassment, assault causing actual bodily harm and affray but denied robbery.

Stoke on Trent Crown Court heard Williams got into Gulzar Ahmed’s cab in Hanley in the early hours on 29 November 2015. Williams was required to pay the fare upfront but as the journey got underway he began arguing with the driver and pulled at the handbrake bringing the car to a stop.

Williams then demanded his money back and punched Mr Ahmed repeatedly in the face, knocking him out.

When Ahmed regained consciousness, he saw Williams walking away, having stolen £130 of his night’s takings.

The court heard Mr Ahmed suffered injuries to his forehead and cheek, and had been plagued by flashbacks from that night which continue to affect his work. He now can only work during daylight hours.

In a victim statement read to the court, Mr Ahmed said “The feeling of looking in the back in the mirror, I don’t feel safe.

“Sometimes I feel like quitting, but I have a family to look after.”

Williams committed the assault and robbery while on bail for other offences committed in August last year, the paper reports.

Williams was found guilty at trial of robbery. Describing him as a “significant risk of serious harm to the public”, Recorder Andrew Easteal jailed Mr Williams for seven and a half years.

Judge Easteal told him, “Your conduct on each of these occasions was both serious and reprehensible. It was a dreadful and violent way to behave.”