Booval’s Matthew John Casey faces Ipswich court for assaulting Uber driver and police officer

A southeast Queensland court has heard how an Uber passenger subjected his driver to a terrifying assault, smashing his head against the window and threatening to kill him mid trip, all because he thought the driver took a wrong turn.

Generic Uber ride imagery. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Matray

An Ipswich man has been jailed for an unprovoked attack on an Uber driver, in which he threatened to kill him and repeatedly punched him while driving over a minor dispute about the correct route.

Booval’s Matthew John Casey, 38, pleaded guilty in Ipswich Magistrates Court on December 13, 2023, to assault occasioning bodily harm, wilful damage, serious assault of a police officer, obstruct police, and 12 breaches of bail.

The court heard Casey had assaulted an Uber driver in Leichhardt on July 19, 2023.

Crown prosecutor Alexi Quayle said the Uber driver had accepted a driving job from a “Murray”, who Casey claimed to be.

She said the driver started driving Casey along the route for the job he had accepted.

But as he went to make a left turn at an intersection, Casey told him: “If you don’t turn right, I will kill you now”.

The Uber driver still turned left, explaining he was required to follow the route on the navigation app.

Ms Quayle said Casey became aggressive and punched the driver in the face and neck three times.

She said he then took his seatbelt off and “jumped” into the front of the car.

He then grabbed the driver by the neck, pushed his head into the window, and punched him again in the head, the court heard.

Ms Quayle said the victim suffered a small cut to his forearm, along with tenderness and bruising to his wrist, shoulder, and elbow.

He had pulled over and left the car to call police, taking the keys out of the ignition, and Casey took the opportunity to get into the driver’s seat.

Ms Quayle said the car wouldn’t start, so Casey then chased the Uber driver around his own car and broke the side mirror off.

Magistrate Kathleen Payne said repairs to the car cost $4252.02.

She said police found Casey sitting in the middle of the road, and he physically resisted arrest - causing minor cuts and scratches to one officer by hitting them in the legs.

Casey later told police officers at the watchhouse that he was HIV positive, which was found to be untrue after disease testing.

The court heard Casey had later struggled to comply with his bail conditions as he had been working as a fly in fly out rigger.

Ms Quayle said he already had four entries on his criminal history for wilful damage, including one occasion in 2011 where he was fined $500 for breaking a side mirror off a taxi cab after abusing the taxi driver.

Defence lawyer Chris O’Neill said his client had drunk a six pack in the afternoon prior to his offending on this occasion, but that he was not significantly intoxicated at the time.

“He instructs that he had some concerns about what was happening when he (the driver) went a different way than he knew,” Mr O’Neill explained.

“But of course that is no way to react, and he accepts that by his pleas of guilty.”

Mr O’Neill said Casey believed he suffered from some undiagnosed mental health issues, and had also been “on edge” at the time due to some tensions with the individuals he was living with.

Ms Payne said Casey’s “unprovoked and violent attack” would have been a “terrifying incident” for the driver.

She sentenced him to 14 months jail, with 54 days in presentence custody declared as time-served.

Casey will be released on parole on March 1, 2024.

Originally published as Booval’s Matthew John Casey faces Ipswich court for assaulting Uber driver and police officer