Mirindi Johnson Tucker faces Ipswich court accused of assaulting DiDi driver in Goodna carpark

A DiDi driver has accused a teenager of assaulting him after he dropped her off at a local shopping centre. But the young woman gave a very different version of events in court, claiming she had been scared he would kidnap her.

Mirindi Johnson Tucker, 20, outside Ipswich Court on January 18, 2024. Picture: Nicola McNamara

A young woman has been accused of assaulting a DiDi driver at an Ipswich shopping centre carpark after he refused to drop her back home from the bottle shop.

Annerley resident Mirindi Johnson Tucker, 20, pleaded not guilty on January 18 to one count of seriously assaulting a person over 60.

She is also charged with one count of wilful damage.

Police allege Ms Johnson Tucker assaulted a 66-year-old DiDi driver on September 2, 2022, at the St Ives Shopping Centre carpark in Goodna.

Ms Johnson Tucker was 18 at the time.

Ipswich Magistrate Court heard during the matter’s hearing how the driver had accepted a job around 6.50pm to take Ms Johnson Tucker and her housemate to the shopping centre and later drop them back home.

The driver told the court during his testimony that he had wanted to cancel the job, however, as he had repeatedly asked Ms Johnson Tucker to stop singing and playing loud music in the back.

He said he told them he would cancel the job when they arrived at the shops, as he felt it was unsafe to drive with the loud music distracting him.

But he claimed Ms Johnson Tucker told him to “f--k off” and attacked him, throwing punches – one which he said struck him in the face.

The driver said he pushed back, trying to defend himself, but did not punch her or use any similar profanities.

He said the other girl apologised for her friend, before a man he hadn’t seen before came over and punched him, knocking him to the ground.

The driver said he was injured from this third party’s punch to the face and hand.

He said a couple witnessed what was happening and tried to intervene, but Ms Johnson Tucker then “started slamming the trolley into (his) car”.

Mirindi Johnson Tucker, 20, outside Ipswich Court on January 18, 2024. Picture: Nicola McNamara

Witness Stella Tokailagi said she and her husband had come over to help after seeing what she initially believed to be two girls assaulting “the old man”.

As they neared closer, she said she realised it was only the “taller girl” (Ms Johnson Tucker) involved in the physical altercation, while the other girl was attempting to intervene.

Ms Tokailagi said she saw a man exit the passenger door of the car in front of him and run towards the confrontation.

She assumed he was going to intervene, but said she saw him punch the driver instead before returning to his car and leaving the scene.

Ms Tokailagi said she witnessed Ms Johnson Tucker hit the shopping trolley into the car on two occasions, and that she also heard her accuse the driver of being a “pedophile”.

At one stage she claimed Ms Johnson Tucker approached her and warned her to move out of the way “if (she) didn’t want to get hurt”.

“I could smell the alcohol on her breath,” Ms Tokailagi said.

She called police, and Ms Johnson Tucker left the scene.

She said the other girl, who had been a passenger with Ms Johnson Tucker in the car, stayed as the police sirens neared and tried to explain to her that they’d “had a bad day”.

The court also heard testimony from Ms Tokailagi’s husband and two police officers that attended the scene, before Ms Johnson Tucker gave her account of events.

Ms Johnson Tucker denied punching the driver or threatening Ms Tokailagi.

She claimed the driver had punched her in the face, and said only after that did she push back.

Ms Johnson Tucker said the driver had been unfriendly from the start when he first picked them up, and that he had pulled over multiple times to tell them to “shut the f**k up”.

She said she and her housemate had been drinking that night but wanted to go to the bottle shop to grab more drinks.

Ms Johnson Tucker said she had been scared the driver was going to kidnap them when he pulled into St Ives, as she thought she had set the destination as a different bottle shop.

She acknowledged, however, that she had been “drunk” and it had actually been booked for the St Ives BWS where he took them.

But Ms Johnson Tucker maintained she had been “scared” because the doors had been locked, the driver had dropped them off on the opposite side of the carpark to the BWS.

She denied threatening Ms Tokailagi, saying she had only been trying to explain the situation.

CCTV footage of the incident was played before the court on multiple occasions throughout the proceedings.

Figures could be seen moving around the DiDi driver’s car, but the exact details of the altercation were unclear.

Defence lawyer Paddy O’Donnell said his client accepted guilt for the wilful damage, but said she had been “provoked” by the driver.

Police prosecutor Jonathon Waddington asked the court to find the drivers’ evidence as reliable, and Ms Johnson Tucker’s as unreliable.

He noted Ms Johnson Tucker’s housemate had refused to give a statement or attend court to testify in the matter.

Magistrate Jason Schubert said he would deliver a reserved decision on a later date.