Man who threatened to shoot taxi driver is jailed

A man who threatened to shoot a taxi driver and then attacked him has been jailed.

Gary Murphy (38) of Church Road, Dublin 1, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to assaulting a taxi driver causing him harm on May 28th, 2016

Judge Melanie Greally sentenced him to three and a half years imprisonment, but suspended the final 12 months of the sentence on condition that he keep the peace and be of good behaviour and follow all directions of the Probation Service for a period of 12 months upon his release.

The court heard that in the early hours of the morning in question, Murphy got into the taxi of Mohammed Naseem and initially began to distract him by beeping the car's horn.

Murphy began verbally abusing Mr Naseem, then threatened to shoot him. He reached into his trousers to give the impression that he had a weapon on his person.

Mr Naseem responded by using body spray on Murphy, who then struck Mr Naseem six or seven times. The court heard Mr Naseem suffered cuts and swelling due to the attack.

The court heard that Murphy was heavily intoxicated at the time of the offence. He has a large number of previous convictions, none of which are for assault.

Judge Greally said the aggravating factors in the case were the level of aggression, the plausibility of the threat and the fact that the victim was a taxi driver trying to make a living who suffered economic consequences as a result of the assault.

She said the mitigating factors were the guilty plea, the accused’s serious addiction issues and the efforts he had made to address them, his family circumstances and his being at a low point of mental health at the time.