Woman bit taxi driver in row over the fare

Julie Garry, 40, of Amherst Road, was arrested after the fracas with cabbie Clive Bendon-Hillon. She appeared before Hastings Magistrates Court on Tuesday and admitted assault causing actual bodily harm, resisting arrest and making off without payment.

Prosecutor Mark Kateley said Mr Bendon-Hill picked up Miss Garry in Robertson Street at about 2.30am on October 10. They agreed a fare of £12 to get her back home but on the way Miss Garry became abusive and started swearing at him. When they arrived at her house, she paid him £10 and Mr Bendon-Hill started to phone the police.

Mr Kateley said: “She then became more physically aggressive and tried to leave but he grabbed hold of her bag. She attacked him, trying to remove his glasses and his hearing aid and bit his arm, causing him some bruising and bleeding.”

Garry, who works in a cafe in Hastings, had to be restrained by straps by the police and when she was interviewed the next morning she said she could not really remember calling the cab, or being arrested. She haf previous convictions for alcohol-related offences, the court heard.

In a victim statement read to the court, Mr Bendon-Hills said he was left shocked and shaken by the attack, and had found it difficult to sleep because of the flashbacks. He said one of his main priorities as a cab driver had been to get lone women home safely, and that he never drove off until he saw they were safely inside their homes.

“I feel betrayed and sickened. I feel badly let down that she stooped so low,” he said.

Ros Crook, defending, said: “Clearly this is a nasty incident. She is extremely ashamed of the way she behaved. She has let herself and everyone else down.

“On this particular evening she had been out with work colleagues and had drunk too much. She had suffered a miscarriage earlier on in the week and she was still suffering and suddenly she needed to get home. She was worried what was happening.

“Clearly she has problems with her drinking.”

Garry was bailed to appear back at Hastings Magistrates Court for sentencing yesterday afternoon.