A TEENAGER who dragged a taxi driver from his cab and threatened him with a bottle during a terrifying robbery has been locked up.

Lucien Marshall, 19, targeted Ijaz Ali in Newport after he and his accomplice Joshua Saunders, 22, were his passengers.

Christopher Evans, prosecuting, said the duo were at a house party in Dewstow Street in breach of Covid regulations last April when they booked the cab.

Police were called to break up the gathering and this led to the pair later being identified for their offences against Mr Ali when officers remembered the distinctive coats they wore.

Mr Evans told Cardiff Crown Court how the Capitol Taxis driver picked the defendants up before they told him to stop during their journey.

MORE NEWS

“Mr Saunders, who was sitting behind Mr Ali, got out of the vehicle and grabbed his money bag and ran,” the prosecutor said.

“The taxi driver then tried to stop Mr Marshall from opening his door but wasn’t able to due the force.

I’m scared and I don’t work at night now

“Mr Marshall pulled him from the car and Mr Ali fell on the pavement.

“He describes being in pain.

“Mr Marshall then raised a beer bottle as if to attack him.”

The court was told Marshall did not hit him with the weapon and he, Saunders and a third unknown man who was now with them, escaped from the scene.

The defendants were linked to the crime after leaving behind their fingerprints and police were also able to identify them from CCTV footage which captured it.

The officers who broke up the Covid party remembered them.

The two were due to be issued with fixed penalty notices for the coronavirus breaches.

Mr Ali, in his victim impact statement, said: “I’m scared and I don’t work during the night.

“I get frightened by passengers.”

His house and car keys were taken during the incident and it cost him more than £300 to change his locks.

Marshall, of Holst Close, Newport, pleaded guilty to robbery and Saunders, of Cardiff Road, Newport, admitted theft.

The offences took place at around 6.30am on Sunday, April 11, 2021.

Marshall also appeared for sentence after he admitted aggravated vehicle taking, failing to provide a specimen, driving without a licence and driving without insurance in a separate incident.

Mr Evans said that related to when the learner driver wrote off a woman’s Fiat 500 car when he took it when invited to her house in Newport last October.

Marshall had taken part in drinking games with her after meeting her on a night out in the city.

The court heard how the Fiat was later spotted “with sparks coming from it” being driven “erratically” with a missing tyre near B&Q in Corporation Road.

The vehicle was found abandoned in the middle of the road and Marshall was spotted near Black Ash Park.

Mr Evans said: “When the defendant was arrested, he told a police officer, ‘Yeah. Whatever mate!”

The car was written off and insurers paid out the victim more than £3,200.

Gareth Williams, representing Marshall, said: “It (the robbery) was a relatively short-lived incident although it was traumatic for the taxi driver.”

Eugene Egan, for Saunders, asked for his client’s early guilty plea to be taken into account and added how the defendant had just received a job offer.

The judge, Recorder Paul Hopkins QC, sent Marshall to a young offender institution for two years and 10 months and banned him from driving for 35 months.

Saunders was sentenced to a two-year community order.

He was ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work and has to complete a 10-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

Marshall must pay a £194 victim surcharge.

Saunders will have to pay £150 costs and a £95 surcharge.