Taxi driver jailed after sexually assaulting student who fell asleep in his carhttps://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2021 ... in-his-car
A taxi driver who sexually assaulted a passenger as she slept in the front seat of his car has been jailed.
Bozlul Hoque, 44, has been sentenced to eight years behind bars after he drove his 21-year-old victim to a secluded street and abused her in April 2019.
Newcastle Crown Court was told how the black cab driver had picked up the female student from outside a city centre bar in the early hours of the morning.
She got into the front seat and asked to be taken to her home address but she fell asleep during the journey, she awoke shortly to find Hoque had parked in a secluded street and was sexually assaulting her.
The married father-of-three was arrested but denied the assault, and claimed she had been intoxicated and unable to provide him with her address.
A forensic examination found his DNA on the victim and he was charged with sexual assault and later pleaded guilty at court.
In a victim impact statement read during the sentencing hearing, Hoque’s victim said her abuser took advantage of her ‘in the worst possible way’.
She said: "This assault on me occurred more than two years ago and yet I cannot shake the memory of this event from my mind.
"The nightmares are still happening, the night terrors still wake me up breathless and panicking, the anxiety of travelling in a taxi is still there.
"But for the last two years this man has denied what he did. He has lied continuously to the Police in his interviews and he has sought out every way to avoid being held responsible.
"I can’t help wondering how many other single drunk females have climbed into his taxi like me and suffered similar things. I doubt I was the first but I hope I will be the last.”
Detective Constable Joe Birkett said: "He was a licenced taxi driver who had undergone vulnerability training and was in a position of trust. His sole duty should have been getting his customer home safely.
"Instead he abused that position of trust and I welcome the significant custodial sentence handed to this sexual predator by the judge.
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