Taxi driver’s attacker jailed after court intervenes
A woman who permanently blinded a taxi driver in one eye after a frenzied attack with her high heels has been jailed for three years.
Georgia Nicholson (23) from Coleshill, West Midlands, has had her suspended sentence quashed by the Court of Appeal after the Solicitor General referred the original conviction as being unduly lenient.
The court heard that on 15 December 2018, the victim was driving Nicholson and a group of her friends home following a night out.
The group had been drinking heavily and when the victim stopped the car as a passenger felt sick, he was subjected to racial abuse before being violently attacked.
Nicholson, who was 18 at the time, repeatedly tried to hit the victim with her high heels before rupturing his eyeball – leaving him permanently blind in his right eye. Members of the public had to intervene to stop Nicholson’s assault.
The Solicitor General Michael Tomlinson KC MP said:
The victim has suffered life altering injuries and lost his livelihood following the offender’s frenzied and unprovoked attack against someone who was just doing his job.
The court has rightfully recognised the offender’s brutality in this case and by upgrading the original suspended sentence to jail time should serve as a warning to others that violence like this will not be tolerated.
On 30 May 2023 Nicholson was sentenced to 24 months’ custody, suspended for 2 years, with 10 days of rehabilitation activity after she was charged with Causing Grievous Bodily Harm with Intent.
On 4 August 2023, the Court of Appeal increased Nicholson’s sentence to 3 years’ imprisonment after it was referred under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.