Assault: Bendtner begins 50-day house arrest sentence

 

Former Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner has started his 50-day sentence for assaulting a taxi driver and posted an Instagram picture of his electronic ankle tag.

The 30-year-old, who currently plays for Norwegian side Rosenborg, is serving his sentence at home in Denmark.

Bendtner was charged with beating and kicking the cab driver in the 2.41am incident on September 9 after he and girlfriend Roepstorff had been at the exclusive nightclub Lusso. Having quarreled over the £4.80 fare, Bendtner punched the driver in the jaw before kicking him as he lay on the ground.

Bendtner was handed an unconditional sentence and told to pay the driver £1,330 in compensation. The cab driver was acquitted of violence but fined £355 for using his telephone while driving and not wearing his seat belt.

In a lengthy post on Instagram, he added: ‘No matter how he [the driver] behaved and what he said, it’s not something I wanted for him. There were undoubtedly many other and better ways that each of us could have resolved our disagreement.

‘If I had just paid the amount the taxi meter showed, my girlfriend and I might not have been pursued by a car with an enraged driver behind the wheel.

‘If only I hadn’t made this decision, which I made in a split of a second while everything was boiling over.’

Bendtner was charged with beating and kicking the cab driver in the 2.41am incident on September 9 after he and girlfriend Roepstorff had been at the exclusive nightclub Lusso.

Having quarrelled over the £4.80 fare, Bendtner punched the driver in the jaw before kicking him as he lay on the ground.

The argument started when Bendtner, who admitted he had been drinking, told the driver to ‘keep left’ only for him to turn left.

As tensions escalated, Bendtner claimed he felt threatened and left the taxi for his own safety.

The pair then squared up on the pavement, with Bendtner claiming he hit out in self-defence when the driver moved towards him.

Bendtner admitted hitting the driver but claimed it was in self-defence after the argument over the fare led to the driver throwing a can or bottle in his direction.