14/09/2012

Two And A Half Years For Attack On Taxi Driver

A man has been jailed for two-and-a-half years for an attack on a taxi driver, who was headbutten and bitten.

43-year-old James Pilgrim, of Newgate Road in Hastings, admitted causing actual bodily harm at a previous hearing before magistrates in the town.

Taxi driver Lee Curtis suffered cracked ribs and had to have six stitches in his fingers as a result of the attack in July and left the room when CCTV of the attack was played during sentencing.

Summing up, the judge Mr Justice Kemp said anyone serving the public should be able to do their job without fear of violence.

The attack happen outside Pilgrim’s home around 00:30 on July 19 and was caught on the cabs CCTV.

After the hearing, Mr Curtis said: "I appreciate it's a custodial sentence but for the severity and the nastiness of it and for the fact that I couldn't defend myself... I think he should have got longer than that.

"I still get headaches, flashbacks. In the back of my head, I don't trust anybody.

"I look at everybody now and I'm on my guard. It's just a horrible, horrible thing."

(H)


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