Taxi driver assault sparks copycat fears

File photo / Daily Post

Dunedin taxi drivers fear that the aggravated robbery of a cabbie at the weekend could spark copycat assaults.

The driver was assaulted in Kettle Park on Moana Rua Rd, in suburban St Kilda, after picking up the woman and a male friend from a taxi rank outside John Wickliffe House, on Princes St, about 11.20pm Saturday.

Sergeant Chris Henderson of Dunedin police said the man left the taxi before the woman punched the driver twice in the head.

She then took cash and fled on foot.

The driver was taken by ambulance to Dunedin Hospital, where he was admitted and treated for moderate facial injuries.

There had been no verbal abuse and no indication the woman would attack, Mr Henderson said.

Police would not rule out the attack had been planned in advance.

They said the woman was Maori, in her late teens or early 20s, of small to medium height, with dark hair in a pony tail.

A local taxi driver said the attack could spark copycat assaults.

Taxi Federation executive member Bill Collie told the Otago Daily Times that such assaults were very in Dunedin and the city was "still a pretty good place to work".

However, some drivers, including himself, did not think Friday and Saturday fares were worth the trouble caused by drunks and petty criminals.

Mr Collie said while people needed to understand the challenges drivers faced, he was worried publicity would encourage "copycats".

In-cab video cameras, which the Government plans to make compulsory, would help protect drivers working at night.

- NZPA