Castlebar man pleads guilty to revenge attack on taxi driver

Man pleads guilty to revenge attack on taxi driver


A Castlebar man assaulted a taxi driver in the middle of the night on a remote road outside the town in retribution for an alleged incident where the driver was accused of ‘dropping the hand’ on his girlfriend a few months before.
Joe McDonnell (19) of 4, Riverside Court, Castlebar was before Castlebar District Court last week charged with assaulting Morris Agboerha in his taxi at Derryharrif, Castlebar on January 25 last and also with subsequently burning out his taxi on the same date.
The court heard how McDonnell had punched Agboerha twice in the face, causing a three centimetre laceration to his left eyebrow, in a retribution style attack after Agboerha allegedly rubbed the upper leg of McDonnell’s girlfriend when she was a passenger in his taxi some months previously.
Garda Hugh O’Donnell told the court how McDonnell had hopped into Agboerha’s taxi at approximately 3.05am on the morning in question and directed Agboerha to bring him out the old Glenisland Road. When they reached Derryharrif, approximately five miles from the town, McDonnell assaulted Agboerha before the taxi driver fled on foot.
When he returned with Gardaí the car was on fire and was fully ablaze by the time the fire brigade arrived, the court heard. McDonnell was standing fifty yards away, added Garda O’Donnell.
Aidan Crowley, solicitor for McDonnell, read into evidence a statement given by McDonnell hours after the incident.
In the statement McDonnell said that he ‘intended to bring him down a back road and hit him for dropping the hand on my girlfriend’. He added that he had been planning it ‘ever since she (girlfriend) told me, it was just about picking the moment’.
The statement also said that McDonnell began questioning Agboerha about the incident as soon as he got into the taxi before telling him ‘to tell the truth or he would get hurt’.
After assaulting Agboerha, McDonnell told Gardaí that he thought the taxi driver was going to get friends and that he was ‘a dead man’. He also claimed that he was locked in the taxi by Agboerha and had to kick out a window in the back seat to get out.
He said that in a ‘mad moment’ he decided to light the back seat with a cigarette lighter.
Aidan Crowley also read to the court a statement from McDonnell’s girlfriend where she alleged that Agboerha had rubbed her leg against her will.
Mr Crowley told Judge Mary Devins that McDonnell is a 19-year-old unemployed man who hasn’t been able to get work since he completed his Leaving Cert. He had tried to get on a Radio Production course in Castlebar but was unsuccessful.
McDonnell had no previous convictions, added Mr Crowley, and he was the youngest of a family of five and his father was in court with him.
Mr Crowley requested a probation report and also told the court that a psychological report would be provided at a future date and that there were anger management issues.
Judge Devins ordered the probation report and put the matter back to October 20.