Taxi driver found not guilty of falsely imprisoning passenger
April 1 2011
A taxi driver accused of falsely imprisoning a passenger in his cab was today found not guilty by a jury.
Licensed cabbie Sad Ali, 38, a married dad of three, had been accused of driving off with a woman customer while her husband got out to use a cash machine.
But jurors at Cardiff Crown unanimously acquitted him following a two-day trial.
Complainant Holly Gretton had described jumping from the moving cab to escape after pulling on the driver’s beard and screaming in his ear to make him slow down.
Her husband Huw Payne called police as the taxi disappeared and said: “I thought I would never see my wife again”.
But Mr Ali told the trial that he had been instructed by Ms Gretton to drive off when Mr Payne got out, because he was keeping on about what a good deal he’d got on the proposed £20 fare.
“He said it so many times – she wasn’t happy – she told him to be quiet and told me to just ignore him.
“When he got out, the lady said ‘let’s go’ and said she’d had enough of him.”
The couple had denied it and said they were asleep in the back as the taxi drove them from Cardiff home to Brynsadler following a birthday celebration, and claimed there had been no argument between them or dispute about the fare.
Mr Payne said he had paid £20 up front but stopped at the cashpoint in Pontyclun because Mr Ali demanded more.
Self-employed Mr Ali said he’d had no money before they left Cardiff and had been promised payment from a cash machine.
He told the court that when Ms Gretton told him to drive on, then said he’d already been paid, he told her they should drive to Talbot Green police station so he could be searched for the cash and she became upset.
“When I mentioned the police she became aggressive and grabbed my beard and pulled and it really hurt.
“I said, ‘don’t touch me again, I’m stopping’. She didn’t jump out – I had stopped.”
Defence barrister Matthew Roberts alleged the whole thing had become like a “runaway train” once the police had been involved and said the idea that a licensed, traceable driver would suddenly abduct a woman from her husband, on a main road, was utterly absurd.
“Mr Ali was just trying to earn a crust for his family”, he told the jury.
“He is the sole breadwinner – why would he want to risk his whole livelihood over £20?
“That night a dispute simply snowballed with a call to the police and it ended up in a criminal trial – no other explanation makes any sense.”
Source; http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales ... -28443672/
Login
Register
FAQ
and her husband a financial advisor.
