Taxi driver brutally attacked in BalbrigganA taxi driver from Dundalk presented to Balbriggan Garda Station in a dazed and confused state last week, with blood dripping from his neck and chin after being brutally assaulted by a passenger.
On the night of Monday, January 22, the driver picked up a single male in Skerries and agreed to take him to Balbriggan.
The first passenger was quickly joined by two other males known to him, who asked to share the taxi. Before the taxi made off for Balbriggan, a fourth man approached asking to share the vehicle. The fourth man was not known to any of the other passengers but they agreed to share the taxi fare with him.
When the taxi reached its destination on Hampton Street at around 1.45am on Tuesday morning, the original three passengers exited the vehicle but the fourth man stayed behind.
He suddenly launched into a vicious attack on the 48-year-old taxi driver from Dundalk, punching him in the face and puncturing his neck.
The taxi driver lost several teeth in the attack and sustained injuries to his nose and chin as well as a puncture wound to his neck. He was taken by ambulance to Beaumont Hospital where he was treated for his injuries and later released.
Two of the taxi driver's teeth were subsequently found in a rear foot-well of his car.
Investigating gardaí are expected to take statements from the other passengers in the vehicle, this week. The taxi driver has so far, been unable to give a statement to gardaí so there is no description yet available of his attacker.
This was the latest in a spate of assaults on taxi drivers in Balbriggan in recent weeks although what sets this brutal attack apart from the others is that there was no evidence of a robbery taking place.
