Taxi driver knocked out in road rage attack: 'Just asked him politely to move'
‘This isn’t how you should resolve problems in a civilised country’
A taxi driver was left unconscious after being repeatedly punched in the head in an apparent road rage incident in Paceville.
Motiraj Paudel suffered head injuries in what witnesses described as an unprovoked attack in the early hours of Sunday, at the corner of Triq San Ġorġ and Triq L. Apap.
The 43-year-old from Nepal said he was driving along the road when he found it blocked by a badly parked white Mercedes “half on the pavement and half in the road”.
“When I told the driver he was parked illegally, he and another man got out of the car and one of them punched me three or four times in the head,” Paudel told Times of Malta.
He was knocked out and, after coming to his senses a minute later, a group of women who had witnessed the assault called an ambulance, which took him to Mater Dei Hospital for treatment.
“The [taxi] driver was completely peaceful and did nothing to provoke the attack,” a shocked witness said.
“We went to the police station immediately to report what we saw but they did not ask for any ID or contact details,” she added. A police spokesperson said a report had not been filed at the time of writing but the victim said he thought his medical report would be sent to the police.
Paudel, who was forced to take time off work due to his injuries, said he had been living in Malta for the past six years.
'Racist insults but never a physical assault'
He said that, in his four years working as a bus driver and two years as a taxi driver, he had experienced occasional racist insults but never a physical assault.
“I just asked him politely to move. This isn’t how you should resolve problems in a civilised country,” he said.
The incident follows another reported case of road rage that occurred two days prior, in which three people were involved in a brawl in the middle of Triq Manwel Dimech, in Sliema.
Those involved ultimately chose not to pursue the matter with a police report, opting instead to apologise.
In May, dashcam footage captured a driver assaulting a tourist attempting to cross a zebra crossing, also in Sliema.
In a separate case in June, a road rage dispute in Bidnija allegedly escalated into a fatal shooting. Mohamed Hamdan, 46, denies murdering Jean Paul Busuttil by shooting him with a gun he retrieved from his home following the minor collision.