Taxi driver who deliberately drove into cyclist avoids a jail term

Isabel Hayes

A taxi driver who deliberately drove into a cyclist and knocked him down has been given an 18-month suspended sentence.

Taxi driver Dermott Reynolds went to gardaí in the wake of the incident in Dublin in September 2018 and told them a cyclist had verbally abused him and undertook his car, leading to a collision.

However, the victim in the case separately went to gardaí and showed them bike camera footage of the taxi driver deliberately veering into him twice, knocking him off his bike on the second attempt.

Reynolds (51), of Moatfield Avenue, Coolock, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to one count of endangerment at North Strand Road on September 20th, 2018. He has two minor convictions for road traffic offences.

Garda Stephen Emmett told the court on Tuesday that the cyclist was on his way to work just after 6am on the day in question when Reynolds drove up behind him on the bus lane and there was a verbal exchange between the pair.

In video footage shown in court, Reynolds accelerated and then drove his taxi directly into the cyclist's path. The cyclist managed to brake in time and continued cycling before Reynolds again veered into the cyclist, causing him to fall heavily to the ground.

The cyclist picked himself up and managed to catch up with Reynold's taxi, which was stopped at a red light. When he told Reynolds he had him on camera, Reynolds said it was an accident before driving off.

Sentencing him on Tuesday, Judge Martin Nolan said it was “reprehensible to endanger someone in this way”. However, taking into account a number of mitigating factors, he ruled Reynolds did not deserve a custodial term.

He handed down an 18-month sentence and suspended it on a number of conditions, including that Reynolds pay his victim the sum of €2,000 within six months.

The judge said if the victim did not wish to receive the money then it should go to a charity of his choice.

Defence counsel said Reynolds was going through some difficulties at the time. His father died a few months after the incident and he cares for his mother, who is ill.

He is currently working for a courier company, the court heard.