In February 2023, the press wrote wrote:
Nottingham taxi driver denies sexually assaulting 3 teenage passengers
He is set to go on trial in October [2023]
Wonder why there's been such a delay bringing this to trial?
And I wonder what happened to the third victim - that hasn't been pursued, by the looks of it, for whatever reason
But, I mean, how to effectively admit your guilt...
Nottingham Uber driver sexually assaulted young woman in his taxi and offered cash for her silencehttps://www.nottinghampost.com/news/not ... d-10151176Zaheer Hussain has been handed a 16-year sentenceA married Nottingham taxi driver who sexually assaulted two young passengers in his cab later offered one of them £6,000 to withdraw her complaint. In a telephone call played at Nottingham Crown Court, Zaheer Hussain asked the girl to meet him in a coffee shop in Old Market Square saying “I have got the money, let’s get it done and dusted, you enjoy it and I’ll get on with the rest of my life”.
The victim refused and the 45-year-old defendant, of The Meadows, took his case to trial where he was found guilty of counts of sexual assault and later pleaded guilty to an additional charge of perverting the course of justice. And the courtroom broke out into spontaneous applause after she fought back tears to bravely read her own impact statement saying how “he preyed on what he thought was a young vulnerable girl but he picked on the wrong girl that night.”
Jailing him for 11 years, Judge Nirmal Shant KC said: “One victim was 18 and she was out celebrating her birthday, she was in drink and you decided to take advantage of her sexually and drove her to an isolated location. She was unsurprisingly terrified, she said in her evidence she thought you were going to kill her. The other had been drinking and was in distress and I conclude you targeted her because of that. This was an abuse of trust and you took advantage of that position as a taxi driver.
“It is clear that what you did has caused lasting damage.”
The trial heard how Hussain, of Wilford Crescent, sexually attacked the victims in 2022 and 2023. The first girl had been drinking and was “alone and distressed” and he invited her to sit with him in the front seat. He offered to drive her to a McDonald's and an assault happened.
The second saw him drive that victim to an isolated location and sexually attack her.
Gordon Aspden, prosecuting, told the court that while he was waiting for the trial he managed to get hold of one of the girl’s mobile numbers and called her twice in early 2024.
He said: “She received two telephone calls back to back from this defendant from a number she knew nothing about. In it he offered her £6,000 to withdraw her support for the prosecution and drop the case against him and asked her to go to a coffee shop in Old Market Square.
“Part of the conversations were recorded.” The prosecutor then played those to the courtroom and in them, the defendant tells the victim: “Look at the evidence you have got and the evidence I have got and it’s 50/50. That will go away if you meet me in the coffee shop.”
In one victim impact statement, one girl, then a university student, said: “That night changed me from an extrovert person and that night significantly shifted my perspective about going out late, getting into taxis and the nightlife scene.”
The second victim fought back tears as she bravely read out her own statement in the courtroom. She told about how she still suffers daily bouts of anxiety and depression, saying: “This man has stolen my youth. When that man put his hands on me I was terrified I would not see my family again and I have been left with a massive distrust around strangers. I don’t want this man to ruin any other young person’s life like he has mine. When everyone goes home there’s a fresh tomorrow but not for me.
“I never did anything wrong. He preyed on what he thought was a young vulnerable girl but he picked on the wrong girl that night.”
Sarah Forshaw KC, mitigating, said: “There is not a shred of arrogance about this defendant and not a shred of defiance. He accepts full responsibility for events in the taxi and he accepts that in full and he accepts the verdicts of the jury.
“He takes the view he ought never to have behaved inappropriately in the taxi and he accepts he is guilty of sexual assaults. His wish is that he had never put his victims through what he did is genuine, but he did and that’s something that he bitterly regrets.”
The 16-year jail term is made up of 11 years custody and five-year extended licence for dangerousness. As well as the prison sentence, Judge Shant placed Hussain on the sex offender register for life and handed him a lifetime restraining order.
Both victims have lifetime anonymity.
Image: Nottinghamshire Police/Nottingham Post