A racist thug battered a taxi driver with a vodka bottle but accidentally left his mobile phone behind in the victim's car.
George Liu unleashed a torrent of vile abuse after drunkenly reacting with fury to being told to pay his fare in advance. The dad then repeatedly struck the worker to the head and face with the makeshift weapon during the early hours assault.
Liverpool Crown Court heard yesterday, Tuesday, that driver Nnade Uduji responded to a call for a pick-up from Corner Brook in Stockbridge Village at around 4.45am on February 6 last year. Sarah Griffin, prosecuting, described how he parked up in the street before Liu, of Rathbone Road in Wavertree, approached his vehicle and knocked on the door while holding a bottle of vodka and a tumbler containing a quantity of liquid.
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The 32-year-old was told he could not enter the vehicle with a full glass, at which he took a swig of his drink before pouring the rest away and getting in on the rear passenger's side. Mr Uduji then demanded that the customer pay up front, but he refused and was asked to get out.
Liu did not do so however, instead telling him "you must drive black man". The defendant went on to call the complainant an "old black man" as he became "angrier and angrier".
At this, Mr Uduji called his office to report the issue. But Liu moved across the back seat and grabbed him by the shoulders demanding that he drive on, then took hold of his phone and smashed it against the glass bottle causing the screen to crack.
The driver exited his car and went to the rear in order to recover his mobile, but as he reached into the door his fare swung the bottle at him – hitting him to the head and face several times. His attacker ran away down the road still carrying the device, but then realised he had left his own phone in the back of the taxi.
Mr Uduji refused to return his mobile until the police arrived. However, another driver subsequently arrived on the scene and acted as an intermediary between the two men as they returned each other's phones.
Liu then fled the area. Mr Uduji suffered a "nasty" wound to the top of his head, which had to be glued shut in hospital, as well as a cut to the bridge of his nose and "small lumps" on his forehead.
In a recording of his 25-minute long call for help, his assailant could be heard saying "he was going to kill him", calling him a "little black b******" and an "African c***" and making other racist comments. Under interview following arrest, he claimed he had been bitten and was acting in self-defence.
Liu has seven previous convictions for 11 offences, including one for racially-aggravated assault in 2009 when he attacked a shop worker after being asked to provide identification while buying cigarettes. Brendan Carville, defending, told the court his client had been the victim of a hit and run earlier this year and had to take time off from his work as bricklayer, while he also has a three-week-old baby son.
He added: "He expects an immediate custodial sentence and has brought what I describe as his prison kit with him. He has a bad record.
"But it is 10 years or so since his last conviction, when he would have been a young man. This was 17 months ago and he hasn't offended since that time.
"He has a lot going for him, work and a young family. He ticks a lot of the boxes for a suspended sentence."
Liu admitted racially-aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He nodded as he was jailed for 18 months, then turned to a supporter in the public gallery and said "see you later lad" as he was led down to the cells".
Sentencing, Judge David Swinnerton said: "You refused to pay him, you refused to get out of the car and you began to racially abuse him. Ultimately that argument developed and you hit him more than once over the head with the vodka bottle, causing a nasty cut to the top of his head.
"It was certainly prolonged and persistent racial abuse. Your victim was a taxi driver, a public servant.
"You say you are in work and have a very young child who has just been born. But, when I look at your record, you have previous similar offending – albeit in 2009.
"You did not learn your lesson then. I don't see any sense of remorse or learning from what you have done."