A MAN who launched a "savage and unprovoked" attack on a taxi driver has been jailed for nine months.
Jonathan Houston (44) punched the driver several times in the face and head before breaking off the taxi's wing mirror and using it to continue the assault.
As he sentenced the oil rig worker at Belfast Crown Court, Judge Neil Rafferty QC branded the incident as an attack on a "defenceless person who didn't even get out of their car".
Judge Rafferty imposed an 18-month sentence on Houston, from Egmont Street in Belfast, after he admitted wounding the taxi driver on March 3, 2019 and threatening to kill him.
The sentence was divided equally between prison and supervised licence.
At around 10am on the day in question, the taxi driver was stationary at red lights on Roden Street when he felt a slight bang to the back of his car.
He saw a female in a Jeep behind him and got out of his vehicle to talk to her, but she drove off.
The taxi driver followed her and when she was stopped in traffic on the Donegall Road, he approached the Jeep and shouted through the window "I think you just hit my car back there".
She denied this, drove off again and at that point he took her car registration which he gave to police.
The driver went back to his depot and after examining his car, he noted damage to the rear light and sensor.
Having satisfied himself that the car was safe to drive, he went back to work - but was called back to the depot after the dispatcher told him there was a man waiting to speak to him.
He arrived at the depot and was parking his car when he was approached by Houston, who pulled open the driver's door and launched what Judge Rafferty described as a "savage and unprovoked attack."
As Houston administered punches to the head, he said "you were chasing my girl in the car, telling her she'd crashed".
The Jeep's vehicle registration was circulated by police and Houston was located at a house in the Donegall Road area.
Officers noticed blood smears around the front door. Houston was arrested and during an interview he refused to answer questions.
Defence barrister Michael Boyd said his client was "remorseful, embarrassed and apologetic" and had "completely lost self-control".