Taxi Driver Online

South Shields taxi driver on trial accused of sex assault on female passenger



A TAXI driver from South Tyneside has gone on trial accused of sexually assaulting a woman passenger.

Randgar Mohammad is alleged to have offered a woman a free lift home before kissing her on the face and neck.

A jury a Newcastle Crown Court heard how Mohammad, of Dean Road, South Shields, was working as a driver in South Tyneside when the incident was alleged to have taken place.

Mohammad, 30, denies a charge of sexual assault.

Michael Bunch, prosecuting, said: “A young lady spent the evening at a friend’s house.

“She was walking home and as she walked along the defendant’s taxi pulled over and he offered her a lift. She noticed the vehicle had a Hackney Carriage display and she decided it was safe to take the taxi ride home.”

He added: “He asked her if the two of them could go to the beach and persisted with the request, leaning over and kissing her on the face and neck.

“He also asked her if they could meet the following day and asked her to write down her phone number, which she did before running home.”

Mr Bunch told the jury how the victim later received a telephone call and, recognising the defendant’s voice, hung up immediately.

When the defendant continued to ring, she called him back to confront him about what happened.

She told her friend about the incident before reporting the alleged assault to police two weeks later.

Mr Bunch told the court that, when Mohammad was arrested, he told police nothing had happened.

Mr Bunch said: “He told police he gave her a free lift home on a rainy night to help her out.

“He did so with the view of her using him for taxi services in the future.

“It is the prosecutions case that the defendant took advantage of a passenger.”

The trial continues.

source: http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/crim ... -1-7007807

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Taxi driver cleared over alleged sexual assault on passenger



A TAXI driver from South Tyneside has been cleared of sexually assaulting a female passenger after picking her up as she walked through the rain in the early hours of the morning.

Randgar Mohammad, 30, was accused of kissing the woman’s face and neck after offering her a lift home on May 6.

After a three-day trial at Newcastle Crown Court, a jury of four women and eight men found him not guilty.

Mohammad, of Dean Street, South Shields, denied all the allegations made against him.

He told the court that there had been nothing unusual about the short drive and that the pair had just had “normal taxi conversations” before he dropped her off near her home.

When Mohommad was arrested and questioned by police he denied that anything had happened between the alleged victim and himself.

Mohommad, who is originally from Iraq, told the court he had only wanted them to be “friends” or for her to become a “regular customer”.

During police interview, he told Detective Inspector Steven King: “I have not touched anyone in my taxi. I am married and my wife means the world to me.”

Stephen Duffield, defending, told the court Mohammad had been driving a taxi since 2011 and had no previous convictions.

http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/crim ... -1-7012378

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin