When a female informed Mark Thomas Kilminster, 41, that she had just been sexually abused by a taxi driver, he became “triggered.”
The teenager had really taken the taxi driver’s phone, the District Court heard on Wednesday, during an alleged fee evasion in Brisbane’s south in July 2021.
After the cab arrived at a location in Inala, the girl attacked the driver and left with the phone and two other girls without paying the cost.
A number of people emerged from the residence and began throwing rocks at the cab after the girl informed Kilminster that the taxi driver had sexually assaulted her when she arrived at the property.
The taxi driver fled and reported the incident to the police, but his vehicle was followed for nearly 10 kilometers after leaving Inala police station.
A vigilante who bashed a taxi driver who’d been falsley accused of rape has faced court
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,’ Mr 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.