Cheltenham cabbie guilty of sexually assaulting teenage student
A CABBIE who shocked a teenage girl when he kissed her on the mouth at the end of a taxi ride has been convicted of sexually assaulting her.
Himanshu Maheschandra, 25, of Deacons Place, Bishop's Cleeve, leaned across and grabbed the 18-year-old's face before kissing her, Gloucester Crown Court heard.
Maheschandra denied the assault and told the jury it was the girl, whom he described as drunk, who had kissed him.
He said he had been shocked by her behaviour because, as a Hindu, it was against his religion to be kissed by a woman before he was married.
But after a two-day trial the jury convicted him of sexual assault by touching.
Judge William Hart indicated he did not think the offence was serious enough for a prison term and that he would probably impose a community order sentence.
The victim, who was a student at the University of Gloucestershire at the time, had told how she went out socialising in Cheltenham on April 30 and then took a taxi home to her digs in Gloucester.
She said she agreed a price of £25 with Maheschandra, a Cheltenham Borough Council registered Hackney Carriage driver, and sat in the front seat of his Honda for the journey home after paying him in advance.
"We stopped and I said thank you," she said. "As I went to get out I thought I heard him say 'give us a kiss then'.
"I turned around and he grabbed my face. He had both hands on my cheeks and he pulled me towards him.
"He had very bad breath. I went to my room and I was sick before I went to bed."
She said that when she got up the next day she rang her mother at the family home out of the county to tell her what had happened.
She was so upset as she related the incident that her mother immediately drove to Gloucester and they went to the police.
In evidence, Maheschandra said he had been in the UK for nine years and had been driving taxis for the last four years.
He was also studying for an accountancy and financial management degree, he said.
He told the jury that at the start of the journey the girl had given him only £20 although he told her the fare was £25.
She had claimed the trip was normally only £20 but she would give him the extra £5 if that's what the meter showed on arrival, he said.
"She seemed drunk and she was behaving in a way which meant she wanted to get away with paying," he said. "She was being all familiar.
"She asked personal questions about me and about whether I had a girlfriend. When I stopped at her home before I could say anything she leaned over me and kissed me.
"She said, 'Thank you babe' and kissed me. I pushed her away. Then she started to leave without paying.
"I said, 'Hold on, you can't just leave without paying me the rest. You only paid me £20'. She said, 'I paid you the full amount at the beginning of the journey. I told her she had only given me £20.
"She was denying it and arguing and saying she was not paying any more.
"I stopped her leaving the car by taking her arm.
"I looked her in the eye and said 'You need to pay more before you leave'.
No one from Cheltenham Borough Council yesterday was available to comment on whether Maheschandra would lose his licence as a result of the conviction, or what vetting procedures were in place to prevent sex offenders becoming taxi drivers.
http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/news/
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