Nelson taxi driver denies sexual assault chargesA TAXI driver who gave a lift home to an acquaintance sexually assaulted her on a deserted industrial estate, a court heard.
Jhangir Akbar, 44, who was driving a white van, has been accused of pulling over on Lomeshaye Way, Nelson, while she was on the way home from night out in Brierfield, and trying to get on top of his female victim.
He is alleged to have unclipped her bra before carrying out the assault.
But a jury at Burnley Crown Court was told the alleged offence was interrupted when a car pulled up alongside the van.
In prosecution, it said Akbar put the van in reverse and drove away, before dropping the woman off at her home.
She had invited an ex-boyfriend round and he noticed she was behaving strangely. Eventually, she told him she had been attacked and the matter was reported to police.
Members of the jury were told they would also hear from two police officers who were on patrol on Lomeshaye at around 2am on the night of the alleged attack.
The officers went to speak to the driver of the van but the vehicle sped away. One of the officers was on patrol the following day when he noticed a similar van.
Akbar was behind the wheel and he told the officer he knew why he was being stopped.
Questioned by police, he said he had been giving the woman a lift home when she asked him ‘for a cuddle’.
He claimed the woman had instigated the sexual activity by placing her hand on his trousers but he had stopped anything further happening ‘because he felt it was not going anywhere’ and he drove her home.
Akbar, of Railway Street, Nelson, denies sexual assault and assault by penetration.
(Proceeding)
source:
http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/ne ... t_charges/
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