Taxi driver avoids jail after assault of passenger

A Nigerian taxi driver has avoided a jail sentence over assaulting a passenger with a sweeping brush and a toy trailer, breaking the man’s collar bone.

At Limerick Circuit Court, Okechukwu Utuke, aged 44, of Dun na hInse, Ennis, walked free from court after Judge Gerald Keyes imposed a two-year suspended jail term on the married father of three.

Judge Keyes said: “I do not believe that a custodial sentence is warranted in the case.