Nicklas Bendtner sentenced to jail for assaulting taxi driver over £5 fare
Nicklas Bendtner has been convicted of assaulting a taxi driver and has been sentenced to 50 days in jail.
However the former Arsenal striker, who now plays at Norwegian club Rosenborg, walked free from the courtroom pending an appeal hearing.
“We think that it’s not good for the club and not good for Nicklas, but he remains a player in the club. We are keeping him,” Rosenborg CEO Tove Moe Dyrhaug told Reuters.
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The 30-year-old had had been out partying with girlfriend Philine Roepstorff on September 9 when he argued with the driver over his route.
Having refused to pay the £5 fare, Bendtner and his partner exited the taxi and were pursued by the driver, where the footballer punched him before kicking him as he lay on the ground.
The assault broke the driver’s jaw and the court was shown a video from inside the cab of the incident.
Bendtner admitted to hitting the taxi driver in the face but said it was because he felt threatened when the driver threw a bottle or a can towards him and his girlfriend when they left without paying.
He has also been ordered to pay the taxi driver just over £1000 in compensation.
Bendtner scored 45 goals in 171 games for the Gunners, where he had loan spells with Sunderland, Birmingham and Juventus.
Since leaving Arsenal in 2014, Bendtner had unsuccessful spells with Wolfsburg and Nottingham Forest before signing for Rosenborg where he has scored 24 goals in 49 league matches for the Norwegian giants.
His international career has seen him score 30 goals in 81 matches for Denmark, playing for his country at the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012. Injury saw him ruled out of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
