Taxi Driver Online

Taxi driver on trial accused of 2006 rape of student

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czerke99dzzo

A former taxi driver has gone on trial accused of raping a student following a night out in Loughborough 19 years ago.

The student reported the rape in October 2006 but the taxi driver was not identified at the time, and the investigation was closed in 2009.

However, Mahbubur Rahman, of Jane Street in Chadderton, Oldham, was charged in 2023 after he was arrested for an unrelated crime, and his DNA matched that taken from the student.

Mr Rahman denies one count of rape, and his defence barrister has alleged the student consented to sex.

'Absolutely hysterical'

The woman told jurors at Leicester Crown Court she has since suffered from flashbacks about what happened.

Giving evidence, she described the driver raping her in the back of his taxi.

"I just remember being helpless. I had no strength and couldn't move my arms," she said.

A former housemate of the student also gave evidence and described being woken up in the early hours of 7 October 2006, as the student was banging to be let in.

"She was absolutely hysterical; I've never seen her or anyone in that state," said the housemate.

"I opened the door when I realised it was her. She was crying constantly. Even when she was trying to speak she couldn't get the words out, she was crying so hard."

The housemate described taking her into the house and seeing her curled up on the floor.

"It was almost like a foetal position, curled up on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest and absolutely crying her eyes out," said the housemate.

The housemate said she called police after being told what had happened.

"She said, 'it's not meant to be me, I'm the sensible one', which I would say is pretty accurate," said the housemate.

"She's a sensible person."

Prosecution barrister Timothy Sapwell KC asked if the student was able to give a description of the man who raped her.

The housemate said: "Just that he was an Asian male taxi driver."

'Shocking' suggestion

Mr Rahman is now 50 but would have been 31 at the time.

His defence barrister, Joey Kwong KC, told jurors that the student consented to sex in exchange for the taxi fare and £100.

In his cross-examination of the woman, he suggested to her: "This was agreed and so Mr Rahman got into the back seat, and you and Mr Rahman in fact also had sex outside."

The woman, who was crying as she gave evidence, replied: "No, that's not true."

When her evidence was re-examined, Mr Sapwell asked what her reaction to this suggestion was, and she said it was "shocking".

The trial at Leicester Crown Court continues.

Not very bright IMO.

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IDFIMH

Taxi driver found guilty of raping student in 2006

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1jnj845k0no

A former taxi driver has been found guilty of raping a student following a night out in Loughborough 19 years ago.

The woman reported the attack in October 2006, but the driver was not identified at the time, and the investigation was closed in 2009.

However, Mahbubur Rahman, of Jane Street in Chadderton, Oldham, was charged in 2023 after he was arrested for an unrelated crime, and his DNA matched that taken from the student.

Rahman was found guilty on Wednesday of one count of rape by a jury at Leicester Crown Court following a four-day trial.

Rahman, who is 50 but was 31 at the time, had picked up the victim after encountering her in the street shortly after 02:15 GMT.

After stopping at an ATM in Greenclose Lane, Rahman is believed to have driven the victim to George Deacon Court car park in Chestnut Street, before raping her in the back of his car, Leicestershire Police said.

Giving evidence in court, the woman told jurors she had since suffered from flashbacks about what happened.

Addressing the jury, she described the driver raping her in the back of his taxi.

"I just remember being helpless. I had no strength and couldn't move my arms," she said.

A former housemate of the student also gave evidence and described being woken up in the early hours of 7 October 2006, as the student was banging on the door to be let in.

They said the victim was "absolutely hysterical" and curled up in a ball on the floor in a foetal position, crying.

Rahman's defence barrister Joey Kwong KC told jurors the student consented to sex in exchange for the taxi fare and £100, which was refuted by the victim under cross-examination.

DNA match

Following the attack, the court heard the victim was able to make her way home and the police were called.

An investigation commenced and the victim's underwear was found at the location.

The force said detectives undertook extensive inquiries at the time of the attack, which included reviewing hours of CCTV and attempting to identify the driver through local taxi firms.

Vital DNA evidence was also recovered but did not match the profile of anyone on the police database at the time, or to anyone who was interviewed as part of the investigation.

After "all avenues were exhausted", the police closed the case in 2009, subject to any new information or evidence coming to light.

In April 2022, detectives got an exact DNA match for the offence after Rahman was arrested on suspicion of burglary.

Prior to this, he had not been known to police.

While in custody, as part of standard procedure, a mouth swab was taken to obtain his DNA and run through the policing database.

This sample was found to be a precise DNA match to the semen samples recovered at the time of the rape.

'No remorse'

Det Con Kristina Page-Brown, from Leicestershire Police, said: "The victim trusted Rahman to take her home after a night out in Loughborough.

"Instead, he abused that trust and took advantage of a vulnerable woman in the worst way imaginable.

"He has evaded justice for far too long and throughout has shown no remorse or regret for what he did.

"I am pleased he has now been made to answer for the crime but also relieved for the victim that the man who caused irreversible damage to her life now faces years behind bars."

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IDFIMH

Taxi driver jailed for raping student in 2006

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0ex93d5ddzo



A man who raped a 19-year-old student in the back of his taxi has been jailed nearly two decades after committing the crime.

Mahbubur Rahman, 50, picked up his victim who was trying to get back to a party in Loughborough, Leicestershire, in the early hours of 6 October 2006.

Although she reported the attack at the time, the driver was not identified, and the case was closed in 2009, before a DNA sample collected from Rahman for an unrelated matter in 2022 matched that taken from the student.

At Leicester Crown Court on Wednesday, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Rahman, of Jane Street in Chadderton, Oldham, had been found guilty of one count of rape by a jury last month following a four-day trial.

Standing in the dock next to an interpreter, he was told he would serve two thirds of his sentence in custody, minus the time he had spent on remand, and the rest of it on licence.

Victim suffers flashbacks

The court was told the victim was out with friends in Loughborough when she became intoxicated and was denied entry to a nightclub.

A friend put her in a taxi which got her back home safely but she later wanted to rejoin her friends.

That is when Rahman - who was 31 at the time - picked her up, although he was not supposed to take fares from the street, Judge Rebecca Herbert said.

After stopping at a cash machine, Rahman drove the victim to a car park, before raping her in the back of his car.

Left without a shoe, her handbag and underwear, she walked back to her student accommodation and told her housemates what had happened.

The court heard the victim was "curled in a ball on the floor" and "completely hysterical".

While her recollection of the night was hazy, a recurring memory of the victim was of a man on top of her in the back of a taxi, "causing her pain", the judge said.

During the trial, Rahman claimed the victim had asked him for money in exchange for sex.

Before his DNA was recovered, another driver - who got the victim back safely earlier that night - had been arrested for Rahman's crime.

"One can only imagine the stress that would have caused him," the judge told the court.

Sentencing Rahman, the judge said he took advantage of a "young girl in a new city", and while he was able to move on with his life and have three children and a wife, the victim still suffered flashbacks and "lives in fear".

"You blighted her life," she told Rahman.

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IDFIMH

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