Hefty fine for man who assaulted taxi driver after €70 journey to Letterkenny

A man who punched a taxi-driver after failing to pay a €70 fare from Dunfanaghy to Letterkenny has been fined a total of €900.

Brandon Ndlovu, 22, appeared at Letterkenny District Court charged with a section 3 assault and failing to pay a taxi fare.

Sergeant Jim Collins outlined the details of the incident to Judge Ciaran Liddy.

He told how on November 11, 2024, Gardai received a call from a taxi driver at 12.45am in Letterkenny saying he had been assaulted.

Sergeant Collins said the accused had been picked up in Dunfanaghy and asked to be taken to Letterkenny.

When the passenger, Ndlovu, arrived outside an apartment in the town where his mother lived, the man said he had no money.

The cost of the fare was €71.40.

An altercation occurred and the accused, with an address at Pearse House, Pearse Road, Letterkenny, ended up punching the taxi driver in the face.

The accused, who was in court with his mother, has a number of previous convictions for public order offences.

Solicitor for Ndlovu, Ms Maureen Gallagher, said her client has now been diagnosed as having a mental health disorder.

She said her client had tried to get the mother from his mother but could not get an answer from the apartment.

Ms Gallagher added that when her client went to the window to throw stones at it to wake his mother, the taxi-driver thought he was trying to leave and the altercation occurred.

She added that her client has been diagnosed with a mental health disorder but that he has turned his life around since this incident.

He is now on medication and is also working part-time as a chef, she added.

Judge Ciaran Liddy found the facts proven and fined Ndlovu a total of €900, €700 for the assault and a further €200 for not paying the taxi fare.