A FATHER-OF-TWO was jailed for two years after pleading guilty to a series of offences including an assault on a taxi driver.

Joshua Derosa, 20, pleaded guilty on July 22 to unlawful wounding and appeared for sentencing at Oxford Crown Court Alison Ginn, prosecuting, told the court that on June 6, Derosa ordered a taxi to take him from Long Wittenham near Didcot to Wallingford.

Ms Ginn said Derosa told the driver, Hugo Farroba, that a friend would pay, but on arrival in St George’s Road there was no sign of any friend, and the driver asked for the defendant’s phone as a guarantee for the fare.

The barrister added that after Mr Farroba grabbed Derosa’s arm to stop him leaving, the defendant “lashed out” and hit the driver on the left cheek beneath his eye, leaving a cut needing five stitches.

Ms Ginn said: “It seemed to be a slice rather than a punch and the £29.50 fare was not paid.”

The court was told that on June 9, Derosa got into a taxi at Didcot and travelled to Wallingford Market Place, where he appeared to get some cash out of a cashpoint to pay the driver, but failed to do so and ran off in Clapcot Way, without paying the £23.60 fare.

Ronan McCann, defending, said Derosa had suffered developmental delays earlier in his life and a period of deafness, which led to him being excluded from school.

He added that Derosa would “no doubt” experience his 21st birthday in prison but hoped there would be redemption for him in future.

Before sentencing Derosa last Thursday, Judge Ian Pringle said the courts, in trying to help him in the past, may have been “lenient”.

Derosa, of Chandos Close, Swindon, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for the series of offences committed between April and June, 2015.

He was sentenced to 16 months’ jail for the unlawful wounding offence on June 6, with a one-month jail sentence to be served concurrently for making off without payment.

He was also jailed for two months for theft from a bus driver, one month for a second theft from a bus driver, one month for interfering with a vehicle in Wallingford, one month for breaching bail conditions, two months for assaulting a police officer, and one month for making off without payment on June 9.

He was ordered to pay a criminal courts charge of £900 and a victim surcharge of £120.

There was no separate penalty for breaching a conditional discharge.