A Tasmanian woman who refused to pre-pay her taxi fare has avoided prison for verbally abusing and threatening a taxi driver with a knife – that she tried to hide from Police in her underwear.
Now-25-year-old Alicia Cashman was “badly affected by methylamphetamine” when she hopped into the front passenger seat of a taxi in September 2021 with a male friend, who sat in the back, the Supreme Court of Tasmania has heard.
When asked to pre-pay the fare, Justice Tamara Jago said Cashman “became aggressive” toward the driver, uttering, “F*#k you, just drive off and I will steal your car”.
Still refusing to pay, she proceeded to reach into her handbag and pulled out a 20cm flick knife, pointing it “approximately five centimetres” from the driver’s body and “threatened to stab him and steal his car”.
Justice Jago said that while there is no assertion that she “intended to actually steal the car,” her threat “clearly exacerbated” the situation.
The male passenger in the backseat attempted to clam down the situation by pre-paying the fare, however, the taxi driver had managed to flag down a passing police car which had stopped.
As Police approached the taxi, Cashman hid the knife in her underwear and initially denied having it when questioned, but later admitted to possessing it after a search.
She was arrested, during which body-worn camera footage captured her “making racist and threatening comments” towards the driver, which she later repeated while in police custody at the police station.
While the complainant was not physically harmed in the incident, Justice Jago believed would it would have been a “most unpleasant experience” for him.
“It is fortunate he was able to attract the attention of passing police in a timely manner,” Justice Jago said.
“Producing a knife and threatening someone with it is inherently dangerous behaviour. It is impossible to know how the threatened person may react and whether the situation may escalate into something far more serious.”
“Frequently, this Court deals with matters where persons have been seriously injured because a knife has been produced by an agitated or angry person.”
Cashman has a “number of relevant prior convictions” related to assaulting, threatening and resisting police officers, two for possessing a knife in a public place and others for common assault and property damage offences.
She also has a history of convictions and a troubled past, traumatised by life-threatening family violence and grieving the death of a child, but had since undergone rehabilitation and entered a detoxification program
Justice Jago sentenced Cashman to three months in prison for the assault charge, suspended for 16 months, and placed her on a 12-month Community Corrections Order with specific conditions to address her drug and alcohol issues and to attend educational programs.
“The sentence I impose ought to reflect and encourage your ongoing rehabilitation. Behaviour of this nature is simply unacceptable,” Justice Jago said.
“Taxi drivers and the like must be able to go about their business without fear of persons challenging them in violent and threatening manners.”
If Cashman commits another imprisonable offence, she may be required to serve her suspended sentence.
