An Indian taxi driver was attacked and racially abused and his car smashed, as a group of baseball bat wielding youth went about attacking and robbing cab drivers in Melbourne suburbs
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The gang ambushed and robbed five taxis in separate incidents in the western suburbs of Melbourne.u00a0
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Attackers wearing balaclavas and armed with baseball bats pulled up in two stolen cars and attacked the drivers at Sunshine, Brooklyn and Laverton North areas last night.
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Harpreet Singh was driving his taxi through Sunshine suburb when his car was rammed from behind and a second car pulled up abruptly in front of him.u00a0
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He said four men with baseball bats got out of the car in front of him and began smashing the driver-side window. "It was terrifying. They were smashing the car and hitting me with the bats also," he said.u00a0
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Representational picture
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"I leaned to the left side (of the driver's seat) to avoid the baseball bats hitting me (but) one guy punched me in the face.
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They didn't say anything to me, they just smashed the car and straight away asked for the money," he was quoted as saying by the Herald Sun.u00a0
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Singh said he had already handed over USD 150 cash and his phone when one of the men punched him and the group sped off in the two cars.u00a0
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He suffered a bloodied lip in the attack while another driver was hospitalised with a broken arm.u00a0
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A report in ABC quoted the owner of the taxi as saying that the driver was taunted as he was beaten with baseball bats.u00a0
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"They hit very badly you know, abusing him, you know, saying you're Indian, go back to your country," owner Sunny Singh told a radio channel here.u00a0
