A Lifford man who hi-jacked a taxi, assaulted the driver and then burned out the car, has escaped being jailed.
Daryl Kelly, 20, was with his cousin Joseph Colhoun in Letterkenny when they got a taxi on January 8th, 2012.
The men asked the driver to take them to Lifford but they then assaulted him, stole his car and then burned out the car at an area known as The Haw.
Kelly appeared before Letterkenny Circuit Court where he pleaded guilty to the charges.
The court heard that the taxi-driver was left stranded and had to flag down a Bus Eireann vehicle at 5.30am to get a lift.
He had injuries to his face and was in shock.
He made a full statement to Gardai who checked CCTV at the Dry Arch filling station where both Kelly and Colhoun where spotted.
Both men admitted their part in the crime.
Kelly, of Beechwood Grove in Lifford, told Gardai that he knew he was going to get into trouble because of what happened.
Kelly said he told Colhoun “This is madness. Stupid. I said to Joe ‘this is madness’ – we’ll get into bother for this.”
At a previous sitting of the court, Colhoun, 30, who had 39 convictions was jailed for two and a half years.
Judge John O’Hagan asked Kelly if he would like it if someone robbed his taxi and burned it out to which Kelly said he wouldn’t.
Judge O’Hagan said he would give Kelly a chance to come up to €2,000 to give to the taxi-driver.
He said he had no doubt that his cousin, Colhoun, was the leader of the hi-jacking.
He said he was sentencing him to one year in prison but substituted it for 150 hours community service saying he thought it was unlikely that he would reoffend.