Elderly woman haunted by cab attack

An 81-year-old woman bashed by a Melbourne taxi driver says she cries daily and wakes during the night in fear her attacker will hunt her down, a court has heard.

Zainab Sarwari was punched multiple times and thrown out of a cab by the driver after being driven around Melbourne's southeastern suburbs against her will for more than half an hour on August 14 last year.

Bhupinder Singh, 25, who pleaded guilty to unlawful imprisonment and intentionally causing serious injury, faced a pre-sentence hearing in the Victorian County Court on Thursday.

In her victim impact statement read to the hearing, Ms Sarwari said she had trouble sleeping because she feared her assailant would come for her at night.

"I feel paranoid when I see a taxi," she said in her statement.

Prosecutor Amina Bhai said Ms Sarwari, who uses a walking frame, was waiting at a Noble Park bus stop on August 14 last year when a cab driver approached and offered her a lift.

Ms Sarwari, who speaks Dari-Persian with very limited English, handed him a card with the address of a Dandenong medical centre and asked for the cost of the trip, waving a $20 note at him.

Singh nodded but drove her towards Dandenong hospital instead.

Ms Sarwari became upset and screamed at him: "Where are you taking me?"

Taxi data indicates Singh drove around the southeastern suburbs for over 30 minutes before stopping in Noble Park. He then punched the elderly woman in the face multiple times before pushing her out of the cab.

Ms Sarwari suffered two black eyes and bruising on her face, wrists and elbow as a result.

She crawled to a nearby house for help and the occupant called an ambulance.

Singh told police that Ms Sarwari had hailed his cab and told her to take him to a Dandenong doctor, so he drove towards the hospital.

When she indicated she did not want to be dropped there, he returned her to Noble Park.

He said Ms Sarwari was pulling on his jacket, punching his shoulder and crying, saying she had no money, so he asked her to get out of the cab.

Singh told police he pushed, but did not hit, Ms Sarwari and did it to "save myself".

His lawyer Dermot Dann said Singh was suffering from a mental illness at the time and was not fit to drive a cab.

He said Singh had a history of mental health problems stemming from an assault in India and shortly before the incident had been attacked in his taxi.

"It's going to be put he himself is in a fragile mental state on this day," Mr Dann said.

The hearing continues on Thursday before Judge Francis Shelton.