Business owner to return to court

A business owner who choked a cab driver after becoming frustrated when he couldn’t correctly enter his PIN number to pay the fare will return to court in the new year for sentencing.

“He is a contributing member of the community,” defence counsel Deborah Loft told Judge Peter Wilkie Thursday in an

Ontario Court of Justice in

St. Catharines.

“He had more than enough money to pay for the cab. He was simply too drunk to punch in the numbers correctly. Alcohol fueled his bad judgment.”

She said her client, Kyle JesseBannon, owns and operates a nutrition store and gym in Stoney Creek and another business in Ancaster.

The 28-year-old Lincoln resident was arrested Nov. 1 after he attacked a cab driver in the area of Linwell Road and Geneva Street in St. Catharines.

Court was told the defendant was sitting in the back of the taxi, behind the driver, when he became frustrated when he couldn’t properly enter his PIN number to pay the fare.

He grabbed the driver’s seat belt and pulled, “essentially strangling him,” Crown attorney Michal Sokolski told the judge.

Sokolski requested a jail term of six to nine months on the charge of assault causing bodily harm, saying taxi drivers are “vulnerable people who need to be protected by the courts.”

The incident, he added, had a “profound impact on the victim.” Loft said a 90-day sentence followed by probation would be a more appropriate disposition.

The judge, noting the defendant was on probation at the time of the incident, adjourned sentencing until Jan. 16 so that a pre-sentence report could be prepared.

“I want to know what’s going on here,” Wilkie said. “I don’t think I have the full picture.”