Ex-soldier jailed for ‘thuggish’ attack on ‘good Samaritan’ taxi driver who was ‘just trying to help’

‘This was a particularly vicious and unprovoked attack on a man who was in fact a good Samaritan as much as a driver for hire — he was just trying to help.’

Former soldier Clarke Rowan pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to aggravated assault for bashing a taxi driver in 2018. Picture: Supplied

A FORMER soldier who bashed a “good Samaritan” in a “frightening and thuggish” attack on a taxi driver has been jailed for three years.

Clarke Rowan, 24, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to a string of offences including aggravated assault and making a threat to kill.

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The court heard Rowan caught a taxi from Darwin to Palmerston in October 2018 before falling asleep.

Upon arrival, the driver tried to wake him and Rowan began punching him repeatedly while the victim begged him to stop.

He eventually stopped and apologised and asked to be driven somewhere else but when the frightened driver stopped and asked for directions Rowan attacked him again, punching and choking him and threatening to “stab” and “kill” him before running away.

In sentencing Rowan on Monday, Justice Anthony Graham said the victim was now too scared to drive at night.

“I accept that this would be a reasonable view to take, this nasty incident would have been exceedingly traumatic,” he said.

Rowan’s lawyer, Chrissy McConnel, had argued for his sentence to be partially suspended to allow him out on home detention to return to work but Justice Graham ruled that would be “manifestly inadequate”.

“The fact is these were particularly nasty crimes, the offender laid into the victim without any provocation and for an extended period and it’s my conclusion that the only sentence for these crimes is a term of imprisonment,” he said.

“The community must realise that people who commit violent offences against law abiding citizens going about their duties are going to be dealt with firmly and as I’ve said, this was a particularly vicious and unprovoked attack on a man who was in fact a good Samaritan as much as a driver for hire — he was just trying to help.”

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Rowan was ordered to pay the taxi driver $3587.62 in restitution and will be eligible for parole after serving one year and six months in jail.