Bashed, robbed, accused of rape: Court hears of cabbie’s nightmare ride
A cab driver’s shift from hell – when he was falsely accused of rape, assaulted, robbed of his phone and then repeatedly bashed with a gel blaster – has been played out in a Brisbane court room.
Mark Thomas Kilminster, 41, pleaded guilty to a string of charges committed against the cabbie. but claimed he was “triggered” when a girl told him the driver had just sexually assaulted her.
The truth was the girl had stolen the taxi driver’s phone during an alleged fare evasion in Brisbane’s south in July 2021, the District Court heard on Wednesday.
The girl assaulted the taxi driver and fled with the phone and two other females without paying the fare after the cab arrived at an Inala address.
When she entered the address the girl told Kilminster she had been raped by the taxi driver, prompting a group to emerge from the house and start throwing rocks at the cab.
The taxi driver left and made a complaint to police but soon after leaving Inala police station his cab was followed by another car for about 10km.
Kilminster – armed with a gel blaster – had jumped in his car with a co-offender and drove around looking for the cab after one of the girls had provided the taxi’s licence plate number.
When he spotted the taxi, Kilminster drove dangerously in pursuit, at one stage travelling on the wrong side of the road and trying to block the cab.
After the taxi driver managed to arrive at his father’s house, Kilminster got out of his car and produced what the cabbie believed was a gun before accusing him of raping the girl.
Kilminster – a father-of-three who was on parole at the time – pointed the gel blaster at the taxi driver and told him he would shoot if he got out of the car, the court heard.
The cab driver tried to appease Kilminster by handing over $200 but instead was struck nine times in the head with the butt of the gel blaster before escaping.
“Vigilantism must be deterred by the courts (but) if (the girl) had told the truth this would never have happened,” Judge Paul Smith said of the incident.
Defence barrister Dominic Nguyen said the girl’s rape claim provoked the reaction from Kilminster because he had been allegedly sexually abused while in and out of juvenile detention years ago.
“Clearly there should be no condoning of his vigilante actions (but) that (rape claim) triggers a significant issue for him,” Nguyen said.
Kilminster pleaded guilty to dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, threatening violence at night, armed robbery in company with personal violence, deprivation of liberty and wilful damage.
He will be sentenced on Friday.
