Taxi Driver Jailed 6 Years For Attacking Passenger With Machete. Former regional taxi driver in Western Australia sentenced to six years in prison for machete attack on passenger. Charlie Collard, a resident of Geraldton, was injured severely by James Michael Greenup in the early hours of March 21 of last year, and Greenup was found guilty of the crime.
James Michael Greenup, a former cab driver in Geraldton, was given a six-year prison term for assaulting a customer. Following a dispute over fares, the 52-year-old driver cut his passenger’s throat with a machete. Under Greenup’s couch, the police discovered a machete covered in the victim’s blood.
After a dispute over the fare, the driver, 52, allegedly pulled out a knife and said, “Meet my friend Mr. Machete,” according to Mr. Collard, who testified in Geraldton District Court.
When Greenup used the 64cm blade to cut Mr. Collard’s throat, the victim claimed that blood was pouring from his neck “like a water pistol.”
Charlie Collard, a resident of Geraldton, was attacked by his taxi driver and is now fighting for his life outside a courthouse. Phoebe Pin of ABC News. He spent three days in intensive care at Royal Perth Hospital after needing an urgent surgery to repair a jugular vein.
Greenup denied attacking Mr. Collard when he was detained by police and admitted to detectives that he never kept weapons in his taxi. Police charged him after discovering a machete covered in Mr. Collard’s blood under a couch in Mr. Greenup’s house. Later, the cabbie acknowledged holding the machete when it sliced into Mr. Collard’s throat.
He claimed he didn’t know his passenger was hurt when he left Mr. Collard at the scene, and he denied that this had been done on purpose. He added that when Mr. Collard began punching him, he “feared for [his] life” and kept the blade in the car as self-defense.
The attack was unprovoked, the attack was rejected by the jury, and Judge Fiona Vernon also found that Mr. Collard hadn’t touched Greenup. Using a video link from Hakea Prison, Greenup appeared in court on Wednesday and claimed he was being threatened while he was there.
He said he wished he could “turn back time” because of the harm he had done to Mr. Collard. Judge Vernon, however, claimed that Greenup had shown no regret for his actions during the trial and had instead racially disparaged Mr. Collard’s family after the jury returned its verdict.
She claimed Greenup showed a “callous disregard for Mr. Collard’s welfare” and speculated that he might be “quicker to take offense from an Indigenous person” than a non-Indigenous passenger. Greenup refused to communicate with his defense attorney after being taken into custody, but did express regret, according to defense attorney George Giudice.
Although Mr. Collard was not present when the sentence was given, family members seemed happy with the outcome. While Judge Vernon was delivering the sentence, Greenup shook his head and expressed confusion over his detention.
He said, “I don’t understand why I’m being convicted for defending myself.
Before being eligible for parole, he must serve four years. He is also prohibited from approaching Mr. Collard within 25 meters by a violence restraining order.