Taxi driver has conviction for lewd comments overturned

A taxi driver who made lewd comments to a female passenger has had his conviction for breaching the peace overturned on appeal to the Circuit Court.
52-year-old African father of four, Mathew Ibenye, of 118 An Sean Bhaile, Doughiska, had been charged under Section 6 of the Public Order Act with breaching the peace following a complaint from a female passenger of a lewd conversation he initiated with her about his genitals after she had hailed his taxi down outside a city pub on July 18, 2019 and asked him to take her home to Knocknacarra.
He was convicted and fined €500 by Judge Mary Fahy following a contested hearing in the District Court last November and appealed that conviction to the higher court.
Allowing the appeal last week in the Circuit Court, Judge Rory McCabe said he believed every word the woman told the court and what she said had been the truth.
However, he said he was not satisfied the evidence presented to the court (by the prosecution) fell within the definition of Section 6 of the Public Order Act that “It shall be an offence for any person in a public place to use or engage in any threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to provoke a breach of the peace or being reckless as to whether a breach of the peace may be occasioned”. It was with regret he had to dismiss the conviction and allow the appeal.
The woman told both courts she hailed Ibenye’s taxi down outside a city pub around 2am and asked him to bring her home to Knocknacarra.
He told her he was single, was from Ghana and had been living in Ireland for eight years.
She said he suggested they go back to her home for drinks after telling her all Polish women were sexy.
The woman said she knew she was in danger when Ibenye asked her if she had alcohol back at her house before turning around in his taxi to tell her all black men were well endowed and he had “a big d..k”.
“He told me all Polish women were very beautiful and very sexy. I couldn’t believe my ears when he turned around to me and he said he had a big d..k. I knew I was in danger,” she said.
On the way to her home, the woman asked Ibenye to stop at the filling station in Lower Salthill on the pretext of getting cash from the ATM to pay the fare, but all she wanted to do was get out of the taxi, she said. She also knew there would be staff there to help her as it was a 24-hour station.
He stopped in the forecourt and she got out and took a picture of his taxi number before asking staff for help.
The Gardai were called and two arrived a few minutes later. They sent Ibenye on his way after taking his details and brought the woman home in the patrol car.
The woman denied during cross-examination by Ronan Murphy, solicitor, at the initial District Court hearing that she had initiated the turn in conversation and she also denied she made the allegations because she didn’t want to pay the fare.
Both courts heard Ibenye became “visibly hysterical” when Garda Kieran Quinn approached him on the forecourt and put the woman’s allegations about the conversation they had had in the taxi to him.
He told Gardai Quinn it was the woman who had told him she knew black men were good in bed and they had “big c..ks.”
Mr Murphy applied in the District Court to have the charge dismissed. He said the State had tendered no evidence to suggest his client had done anything to provoke a breach of the peace.
Judge Fahy thought otherwise and recorded a conviction.
At the appeal hearing last week, Brendan Browne BL, said his client had been charged under Section 6 of the Public Order Act, and yet there was no evidence before the court to suggest his client had ever breached the peace or had been reckless as to whether a breach of the peace had occurred.
Mr Browne said his client did not use threatening, abusive or insulting language and contended the proper mode for prosecution in these type of cases would have been under the 1961 Road Traffic (Public Service Vehicle) Act, or under the 2015 Taxi Regulations.
He said there was no evidence his client’s intention was to provoke a breach of the peace.
“If a taxi driver starts talking about his genitals, that might cause a reaction which might lead to a breach of the peace. A vehicle for hire is defined as a public place,” State solicitor William Kennedy, prosecuting, suggested.
Judge McCabe held with Mr Browne and granted the appeal.