Thug chased Leeds taxi driver from his cab during racist tirade
A sleeping thug chased a taxi driver along the street shouting racist abuse at him, before sitting back in the cab and refusing to move.
Damien Howe was jailed at Leeds Crown Court for the incident, along with others in which he attacked a friend and refused to leave his ex partner alone.
Prosecutor Mahdev Sachdev said Howe had taken the taxi to Holbeck on the evening of October 12 last year.
On arriving at the destination, the driver noticed the 39-year-old was asleep, so tried to wake him.
Howe became aggressive and was “throwing his hands towards the driver”, who got out and tried to flee.
But Howe chased him shouting racist abuse. The driver tripped and twisted his ankle.
Howe then told him he would take the driver’s car and got behind the wheel, refusing to get out.
The police arrived but he carried on racially abusing the driver.
The court was told that Howe, of Britannia Road, Morley, had also breached a non-molestation order that the family court had imposed in January of this year to keep him away from his ex partner.
He continued to call her and at one point turned up at her home and let himself in while he was drunk.
Finally, on April 19 he went to a friend’s address in Hunslet. When she arrived home she found him in the garden drunk and clutching a bottle of vodka.
After letting him in, he turned violent, grabbing her by the neck and punching her four or five times to the head.
He then pushed her to the sofa by the neck, but she was able to wriggle free. He then urinated on her sofa and fell asleep.
The woman, who suffered two black eyes, rang the police. Once arrested, Howe gave a no-comment interview.
He has 21 previous convictions for 35 offences, including violence and court-order breaches.
He admitted charges of common assault, racially-aggravated harassment, three breaches of the non-molestation order, criminal damage, ABH and strangulation.
Howe appeared in court via video link from HMP Leeds, where he was being held on remand.
Mitigating, Lily Wildman said Howe was expecting a lengthy jail sentence. She added: “He hopes to be free of alcohol dependency that has riddled his life for a substantial period.”
Judge Alex Menary jailed him for 38 months and gave him a 10-year restraining order to keep him away from his ex partner.