Gurpreet Singh: 13cabs driver jailed for 30 offences
Watch the moment a Brisbane taxi driver becomes a road-rage monster. EXCLUSIVE VIDEO.
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A 13cabs taxi driver from Brisbane southside has been jailed for 18 months for committing 30 methamphetamine-fuelled offences, the most serious of which were attempting to run down a man and punching a female police officer in the face.
Macgregor resident Gurpreet Singh, 40, a permanent resident from India who moved to Australia in 2009, is facing possible deportation after his sentence in Beenleigh Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
Court documents reveal the offences occurred between April 4 and August 27 this year, when he was arrested.
His offences included possessing ice, multiple counts of possessing drug utensils, two counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, serious assault of a police officer, shoplifting, stealing from the person, public nuisance, possessing a knife in a public place, entering a premises to commit an indictable offence, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, and multiple breach of bail conditions.
Most of his offences occurred in the Logan region.
The court was played expletive-ridden footage of Singh’s first instance of dangerous driving, which occurred on May 17 at Loganlea Rd, Meadowbrook, at about 12.30pm.
Singh was driving in a branded 13cabs taxi owned by Tiger Taxis Queensland Pty Ltd, when he began weaving in and out of lanes to pass traffic, repeatedly cutting off other vehicles.
This led to a verbal confrontation with a utility driver.
Shortly after, as he approached Edenlea Dr, Singh inexplicably drove into the back of a stationary Nissan Micra and “accelerated to push the (victim’s) vehicle forward”.
The victim stepped out of the vehicle with his arms extended, at which point Singh reversed and accelerated again to strike the victim twice.
Singh then sped off.
The other footage played to the court depicted Singh slugging a female constable in the face at an address at Mikaga Ct, Woodridge, on May 21 about 7.30am.
Court documents state police attended the residence for an unrelated matter when they were confronted with an “irrational and erratic” Singh banging on the side entrance gate.
He then rushed the uniformed constable and punched her to the right-side of her face, causing her to stumble and lose her footing.
Singh’s other notable offending occurred on May 27, when, despite having his licence terminated, he entered the 13CABS depot at Blackwood Rd, Logan Central and helped himself to a taxi.
For several days afterwards, he continued driving around collecting fares as though nothing had happened.
Defence lawyer Emma Kearney told the court Singh suffered a relationship breakdown in 2014 and the death of his father a few years later, which precipitated his two-year descent into ice addiction.
She said Singh was unable to remember much of the offending due to the amount of ice he was consuming and in some cases required CCTV footage to be shown to him to jog his memory.
Singh was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment with immediate court-ordered parole, having served 141 days of pre-sentence custody.
He was also disqualified from driving for two years and ordered to pay some $2400 restitution.
It is now for the Department of Home Affairs to decide whether Singh, who will live with his nephew at Runcorn upon his release, remains in Australia.
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