Business man ran at driver with axe
A 67-YEAR-OLD taxi driver has told of his terrifying ordeal after a company boss chased him with a hatchet, in a late-night attack following a dispute over the fare home.
A court heard how director John Moran ran at driver John Moloney with an axe raised over his head – but the attacker’s wife grabbed her husband and forced him back.
Mr Moloney, a taxi driver with 41 years’ experience, had picked up Mr Moran at 1am, after his passenger had been watching a Munster rugby match in a pub in Limerick city.
However, when he asked for the €31.65 fare, Mr Moran offered him only €20, and told him: ‘You are getting f*** all.’ He then got out of the car.
Mr Moloney was awarded €19,000 for the psychological trauma he suffered as a result.
Judge Gerald Keys, in Ennis Circuit Civil Court, described Mr Moran’s actions as ‘completely over the top, unjustified and wrong’. The court heard that Mr Moran, who runs a small firm that employs four to five people, had asked Mr Moloney to take him the 12km to his home in Cratloe, Co. Clare, on November 3, 2013.
Mr Moloney said that during the journey, Mr Moran nodded off for a few minutes, and that the trip took longer than usual because his passenger had said ‘drive on’ at a crossroad.
He said that when Mr Moran refused to pay the full fare and got out of the car, he got out too and chased him.
Mr Moloney told the court: ‘He picked up something and fired it in my direction. I ran back to the car and started blowing the hooter because I didn’t know what danger I was in at this stage, between him running and dogs barking.’
At that stage, he said, Mr Moran’s wife came to the front door and they spoke briefly before she shouted to her husband: ‘John, what the f*** are you doing?’
Mr Moloney said he turned around and saw Mr Moran coming at him with a hatchet raised over his head. He was six to seven feet away and the taxi driver put up his arms to protect himself. Mr Moran’s wife then grabbed her husband, and forced him in the front door.
Mr Moloney said that she came back out and said: ‘You have brought my husband all over the country. Come out tomorrow for your €20.’
He drove to Henry Street Garda Station in Limerick to make a formal complaint.
District Court criminal charges against Mr Moran, of assault and producing a hatchet, have previously been dismissed.
Judge Keys said that Mr Moran ‘was in a state of rage, because he felt that he had been ripped off by Mr Moloney, and whether he was or not is irrelevant because it doesn’t justify someone having a row with a taxi-driver over a fare of €31 and producing a hatchet’. He added: ‘To react and challenge someone with a hatchet is totally disproportionate.’
Judge Keys also awarded costs against Mr Moran, of the Island, Cratloe, and said the incident had serious consequences for Mr Moloney.
Mr Moran – who had five to six pints on the night, the court heard – denied that he had produced the hatchet.
Asked if he still thinks about the incident, Mr Moloney told the court: ‘It is never going to leave me... it is there the whole time.’
His lawyer, Michael Purtill BL, said his client had ‘feared that he was going to be seriously hurt’.
He suffered no physical injuries as he wasn’t struck, but his injuries are psychological, the court heard. Consultant clinical psychologist Brian O’Keeffe said Mr Moloney ‘suffered an adjustment disorder in response to the experience of that night’.
He said: ‘When someone experiences a very untoward event, there is an intense emotional reaction to it. A person can show very intense anxiety over a period of a few weeks and months which gradually diminishes over time.’
Wife said: ‘What are you doing?’