Courts / Dublin / Report

Jury clears taxi driver of assault, fails to reach verdict on bite charge

Summary

In the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, a jury of ten women and two men found taxi driver Lookman Kareem (48) not guilty of assaulting passenger Noelle Donohue, but could not reach a verdict on the alleged assault of passenger Darren O'Connor. The trial, held on 15 April 2016, heard that on 22 December 2013, O'Connor, Donohue and two of Donohue's sisters were in Kareem's taxi when they began laughing at his first name. Kareem allegedly shouted racial slurs, punched Donohue in the nose, hit her twice when the car stopped, and then got into a scuffle with O'Connor, allegedly biting off the top of O'Connor's thumb. O'Connor described excruciating pain and the loss of the thumb's tip. Kareem denied the assault, claiming the passengers were the aggressors and had racially abused him. The judge dismissed the jury after just under four hours of deliberation and adjourned the case to 28 April for a retrial.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Jury clears taxi driver of assault, fails to reach verdict on bite charge. Charges or matters: assault causing harm to Darren O'Connor and assault of Noelle Donohue at Rathmines on December 22, 2013. Procedural stage: trial

When:

• December 22, 2013 Incident
• April 28 Adjournment
• 2016-04-15 Publication

Case subjects

Places mentioned

Topics

Stage Trial Violent Crime

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Read the original CNI report