Australian gets over 6 yrs in jail for attacking Indian

A court in Melbourne has sentenced an Australian to over six years in jail for attacking an Indian taxi driver with knife, an incident that led to hundreds of Indian cabbies blocking the Melbourne streets last year.

Justice Elizabeth Curtain sentenced Parrish Chales to six-and-a-half years in jail, saying the stabbing was "random, unprovoked and frenzied" and the fact that the 45-year-old attacker had a hunting knife hidden in his pants showed a degree of "premeditation".

The judge said the unprovoked and unexpected assault on 23-year-old Jalvinder Singh was terrifying and left Singh with ongoing mental and physical injuries that would change his life, media reports said on Friday.

Charles stabbed Singh five times from behind with a hunting knife and the victim crawled bleeding from his cab and was found in the gutter hours later by a passing truck driver in April last year.

Charles drove off in the cab but crashed it nearby. The crime shocked the city and led to a mass blockade of Flinders and Swanston streets in central Melbourne by taxi drivers for 22 hours.

Victorian Government had to then agree to safety screens in cabs for drivers who wanted them, and pre-payment of fares to become mandatory at night.