Taxi driver clearedA BEVERLEY taxi driver accused of sexually assaulting a woman in his cab has been dramatically cleared by a judge who said the case was a warning to women who drink too much.
Judge John Dowse ordered Peter Levy, 46, should be found not guilty of sexual assault after a four-day trial saying inconsistency in evidence caused by the woman’s memory loss meant he could not be safely convicted.
He told the father of four: “Having wrestled with this overnight, my decision is that a jury properly directed could not reach a conviction which would be safe in all the circumstances.
“This woman was very drunk. This case is a warning, particularly to ladies who drink excessively, so that there is an inability to completely recollect events.”
He said there were inherent weakness in her evidence of how she ended up sat astride Levy in his taxi and inconsistency in whether they were sat in the passenger or driver’s seat.
Hull Crown Court heard Levy, a married father of four, of Norwood, Beverley maintained his innocence saying he had done nothing wrong.
He was accused of taking advantage of a female passenger touching her inappropriately in the front seat of his cab on August 22 2011.
He had picked her up after she had been out drinking with friends in Hull’s Old Town when he claimed she felt sick and asked him to stop. The girl admitted she needed more money from a cash machine for the fare and claimed that, instead of going towards the cash machine, he pulled in to a layby on Tranby Lane.
She said he switched off the ignition and the lights and she became very concerned.
He painted a different picture in police interview.
He admitted he had picked up the girl, but said he pulled over after she said she was going to be sick. He said she wanted to lie down so he let her put her head in his lap.
He said she kissed him and not the other way around. He said he pulled her knickers up. He said she pulled his trousers down. He denied touching the girl as she described.
He told the police he had been a cab driver for five years and knew the code of conduct required of taxi drivers by Hull City Council and denied breaking it.
He said “She was kissing me. Not me kissing her.”
He denied climbing over the gear stick and said she was sat on him for five or 10 minutes hugging him and kissing him.
He said she was calm when he dropped her off and accepted a tip from her and didn’t charge the £50 he normally would for being sick in his cab.
His barrister Anil Murray called for the judge to stop the case at the end of the prosecution case. He said the complainant’s evidence was not complete and had large gaps because it was affected by alcohol.
source:
http://www.beverleyguardian.co.uk/news/ ... -1-4328584
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