A POWYS man has been ordered to pay £1,000 compensation to a taxi driver he assaulted, although he has escaped an immediate prison sentence.

Dylan Morgan Thomas, 24, assaulted Sohail Bashir, causing him actual bodily harm, in Cardiff on June 23 last year.

Thomas, from Crickhowell, had initially denied an offence of assault, as well as a second of causing criminal damage to Mr Bashir’s taxi, but changed his pleas to guilty on the morning of his trial.

At Cardiff Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, March 22, Thomas, of Gerddi'r Mynedd, Crickhowell, was given a prison sentence of six months – although it was suspended for a year.

The defendant, who had initially denied the offences, committed them on at Rhymney Terrace, in the Cathays area of Cardiff.

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The damage to the car was caused to a wing mirror of Mr Bashir’s Toyota Avensis and said to be valued at less than £5,000

Magistrates described the incident as a nasty assault on a taxi driver and said Thomas’ previous convictions aggravated the situation; it was said he has a number of previous offences for violence. They said they had decided to suspend the term of imprisonment because of his eventual guilty plea and mitigation.

In addition to the suspended sentence, Thomas was ordered to pay Mr Bashir compensation of £1,000.

He must also pay court costs of £620 and a £128 surcharge – leaving Thomas to pay a total financial penalty of £1,748.

Magistrates ordered no separate penalty for the damage to the wing mirror.