A taxi driver who held a passenger captive for almost 20 minutes and subjected her to a vile tirade of abuse while speeding around Perth was yesterday given a suspended jail term over his “monumental brain snap”.

Jamie McCord, 26, was waiting for her partner to pay their cab fare at the end of a night out in May when the driver of the taxi, Amrinder Singh, suddenly went “from zero to 100”.

Thinking the couple were about to do a runner, Singh locked Ms McCord inside the car and sped off while her partner stood helpless on his driveway.

The 32-year-old taxi driver reached speeds up to 104km/h over the next 19 minutes as he drove around erratically, screamed abuse at Ms McCord and demanded money.

While Ms McCord cried and begged Singh to let her out, the driver swore at her repeatedly and threatened to throw her out of the taxi and run her over.

“Go get the f...... money right now you b....,” Singh said.

“You are not getting out of the car, simple as f...... that.”

Singh eventually stole Ms McCord’s phone and abandoned her on the side of Mitchell Freeway, forcing her to walk across railway tracks and flag down a car full of strangers for help.

The torrent of abuse was caught on the driver’s taxi surveillance system.

District Court Judge Simon Stone described the vision as horrendous listening and said it appeared Singh had “lost the plot on that particular night”.

“That is about the only way one can explain your rage,” Judge Stone said. “It was a terrifying and frightening ordeal for the victim and her boyfriend.

“Your actions were wholly disproportionate to your belief that you were going to be ripped off again or possibly harmed.”

Singh was handed a nine-month jail term, which was suspended for 12 months, for deprivation of liberty, threat to harm and stealing.

His lawyer Terry Dobson said Singh was at the end of a long shift when he became suspicious of the couple and had a monumental brain snap.

Mr Dobson said his client had gone to counselling to address his anger management problems and would never work as a cabbie again.

Speaking after the sentencing, Ms McCord described the ordeal as terrifying and said she did everything she could to try to convince Singh to stop the car.

She said Singh finally let her out after she showed him a photo of her twin brothers and convinced him they were her sons.

“Ever since that night I don’t really get taxis any more,” Ms McCord said. “I just hope it never happens to any other girls or any other person again.”