Passenger jailed for attack on taxi driver in Clare

A 36-YEAR-OLD Nigerian taxi driver said yesterday he no longer felt safe in his work after a man was jailed for an unprovoked assault on him in Ennis, Co Clare.

Married father of four Batholomew Omoifo said: “For a coloured man, working as a taxi driver is very dangerous. I am afraid to go working because of previous experiences.”

He was speaking after a 26-year-old Ennis man was jailed for nine months at Ennis District Court yesterday for an unprovoked assault on Mr Omoifo on June 5th, 2010.

Mr Omoifo told the court that Azriel Higgins of Creggaun, Tobarteascáin, Ennis, called him a “b*****d n****r” before head-butting him in the mouth, knocking out his two front teeth.

Higgins – who pleaded guilty to the assault and has 14 previous convictions – headbutted Mr Omoifo after refusing to pay the €15 fare to John Paul Avenue in Ennis.

Mr Omoifo required four stitches and dental work costing €2,400, while damage done by Higgins to Mr Omoifo’s taxi cost €761 to repair.

Speaking outside Ennis courthouse yesterday, Mr Omoifo said he had been a victim of a subsequent assault by another passenger in the east Clare village of Tulla four months ago.

He said this assault was under investigation by gardaí, but added that he was subjected to verbal racist abuse on a daily basis while working as a taxi driver in Ennis.

Mr Omoifo, who is an accountant, said: “It is very tough as a black taxi driver. If I had a choice I wouldn’t be working as a taxi driver but I have to support my home. It is very, very risky for us coming out working carrying people in our taxis.”

He said there were 15 black taxi drivers working in Ennis.

“I don’t feel safe and we phone each other saying ‘this is an area I am going to in case anything happens’.”

On the daily racist abuse, Mr Omoifo said: “Passengers flag you down, open the door and when they see you are coloured, they say ‘F*** off’.

“I get this every day. Sometimes in the taxi rank, I might be at the top of the queue, but people will pass you out to go to the first white person. I just try to ignore them,” he said.

In Ireland eight years and working as a taxi driver for the last three, Mr Omoifo said: “They see you as a problem of this country, they are venting their anger over the economy at us.

“We are suffering the same thing as well. We try to make a living, we go through the same economic hardship.”