Not Fare | 

Taxi passenger (24) who kicked and broke window in row over fare is spared jail

McNally, with an address at Poplar Row, Dublin 3, pleaded guilty to criminal damage and drugs charges.

Yesterday at 06:14

A taxi passenger who kicked and smashed the window of the cab during a dispute over the fare has been spared jail after paying compensation.

Gary McNally (24) was found standing with a bleeding hand beside the taxi when gardaí arrived.

He was separately arrested for cannabis and cocaine possession in other incidents, Dublin District Court heard. Judge Bryan Smyth gave him an eight-month suspended sentence.

McNally, with an address at Poplar Row, Dublin 3, pleaded guilty to criminal damage and drugs charges.

The court was told gardaí were called to Seville Place in the north inner city on November 20, 2021, arriving to find the taxi driver standing outside the cab.

There was broken glass on the road and the rear driver’s side window was smashed.

McNally was standing on the footpath with blood coming from his cut hand. He had been a passenger in the taxi and was being dropped off to his requested destination.

He pulled the screen separating the front and back of the cab before kicking and breaking the rear driver’s side window. McNally paid €400 compensation for the damage.

On February 19 last year, gardaí found him in possession of a small amount of cocaine and alprazolam tablets.

Two large sealed plastic bags of cannabis were found in his coat pocket in a search at Poplar Row flats on January 27, 2021.

McNally’s father had died in tragic circumstances which led him into drug addiction, his solicitor Claire Finnegan said.

He had since made “great strides” in turning his life around, she added.