Live case
But wouldn't be at all surprised if the jury finds the phone recording quite compelling evidence
Taxi driver asked woman to 'show him her breasts' before 'raping' her at South London flat
https://www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-n ... w-25000359
David Jacobs had collected the intoxicated woman from a bar in central London
A London taxi driver was caught on voice recordings encouraging a drunk female passenger to sleep with him, a court has heard. David Jacobs, 61, collected the woman from Central London and was overheard saying “You might as well let me f*** you” before allegedly raping her at her South London flat.
Today (Monday, September 12), jurors at Inner London Crown Court heard that on February 3, 2022, the woman, who is aged in her late twenties, had gone to a bar called Fleets near St Paul’s Cathedral for celebratory work drinks. After drinking an “awful lot” of wine at a free bar, she felt she had reached “tipping point” at around 8:30pm and decided to travel home.
CCTV was shown of the woman falling backwards in the bar while collecting her bag and coat, and two employees followed her outside and watched as she hailed a black cab taxi. During the journey home, she recalled becoming “upset” at which point her driver, Jacobs, began to speak with her.
“She noticed that the conversations were going in strange ways, it was becoming suggestive,” prosecutor Amanda Hamilton said. The woman recalled telling the defendant that she wished to kill herself and later told police officers “she wasn’t being suggestive towards him in any way and felt that she was having a mental health episode”.
Ms Hamilton continued: “She can’t remember what he said but she knows he asked her to show him her breasts and that’s what prompted her to press the button on her phone.” During the voice recording, which was played to the jury, Jacobs can be heard saying “You might as well let me f*** you”. The woman responded “So what, so you mean if I want to die I would let you f*** me” to which Jacobs replied “Yes, because you don’t care, you don’t care do you”.
The woman claims to have no recollection of arriving home, but recalled that Jacobs was “on top of her penetrating his vagina with his penis”. “She doesn’t remember getting out of the taxi, opening her front door or closing the front door.” Ms Hamilton said. “She remembers a large old man who pulled her work dress over her head. She could hardly stand when this was happening. She couldn’t remember what happened to the rest of her clothes.”
She continued: “She told him she had to go to sleep and she had to get up to work and he told her he would soon be finished and carried on.” The woman then “blacked out” and could not recall what time he had left her property. Shortly afterwards, she had sent her friend a voice note to say “there had been an old man in her flat and that he’d done things to her”.
The following morning, she woke at 6am feeling “anxious, confused and violated” and discovered her cushion on the floor covered in vomit. She began “piecing the events of the night before together” and called a friend to play the recording, before deciding to report the incident to the police.
During her police interview, she recalled that the man had a “hairy body with a beer belly” and that he had informed her he was married with children. A rape investigation was launched and following CCTV analysis, Jacobs was arrested and charged.
Whilst it is “agreed by all sides that there was intentional penetration by Mr Jacobs through his penis”, he denies that it was rape and claims that the intercourse was consensual. He has denied one count of rape with the trial due to continue for the remainder of this week.
