Because taxi drivers perform a valuable community service, don?t make a lot of money and are always vulnerable to criminal activity, the courts must punish those who act out violently against them, a Sudbury judge told a teenager last week at the Sudbury courthouse.
However, because Arleta Commanda, 19, had no previous criminal record, Justice Yvan Renaud agreed not to send her to jail despite her involvement in a serious violent attack against a Sudbury cab driver Jan. 10. Renaud sentenced Commanda to 15 months of probation, ordered to not step inside an ABC Cab Company vehicle and not associate with two other people who were with her when the cabbie was attacked.
Court heard a cab driver picked up Commanda, James Paquette and a third person and drove them to a Minnow Lake address. An argument erupted over the $9 fare and Commanda lashed out by kicking him in the head. Commanda pleaded guilty to common assault.
Unfortunately, the assault continued when the two other persons continued to beat the cabbie up.
