Lookman Kareem acquitted of assault causing harm

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Lookman Kareem was acquitted by a jury of assault causing harm at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The charge concerned an alleged assault on Darren O'Connor at Richmond Hill, Rathmines, on 22 December 2013. Kareem had pleaded not guilty. The proceedings were reported on 10 March 2017. The jury acquitted him after about 40 minutes of deliberations.

The report said Kareem was accused of biting off part of O'Connor's thumb. The State's case was that he became very angry when passengers saw his first name on his taxi identification and began laughing. O'Connor said they tried to explain that they were not making fun of him.

Kareem told the jury he did not know how the injury happened and said he had acted in self-defence during a struggle. He told gardaí that passengers had passed his taxi identification around and photographed it. He alleged that, when he objected, they told him to go back to his own country. He alleged that three passengers then dragged him out of the taxi and punched and kicked him while he was on the ground.