Man nearly sliced off taxi driver's nose after knifepoint robbery in 'sadistic' act of violence

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A man who nearly cut off a taxi driver’s nose in a “gratuitous and sadistic” act of violence has been jailed.

Manchester Crown Court at Crown Square heard how Richard McCormack, 38, of Bell Lane, had gone out in the early hours of January 8 when he came across a man close to The Rock shopping centre, asking him for a cigarette paper before producing a four inch knife and demanding the whole stack.

Robert Elias, prosecuting, told the court that McCormack threatened the man, saying “get your white arse out of here or I’ll stab you up and kill you”, whilst wearing a face mask. A taxi driver then pulled up outside the Halifax bank to let a woman grab cash out to pay the fare, and McCormack jumped into the back of the cab, bringing the knife to the driver’s throat and threatening to kill him unless he handed over his cash.

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The frightened driver passed over his takings bag, and McCormack stabbed him in the back of the hand, leaving a 7cm gash around his thumb area which later needed stitches. The driver also pressed his emergency button, and the taxi office called his personal phone, prompting the driver to flee the cab shouting down the phone for help.

In a callous act of violence, McCormack chased the man down and stabbed him to the back of the head after he slipped on ice and fell, before picking him up and slashing at his face at least four times, almost completely severing the driver’s nose from his face in what Mr Elias described as a “gratuitous and sadistic piece of violence for his own satisfaction”.

After the senseless attack, McCormack picked up the victim’s phone and ran off, leaving the man