Taxi Driver Online

York taxi driver ‘raped’ girl, 17, court told


A 51-YEAR-OLD taxi driver raped a 17-year-old as he took her home from her boyfriend’s house, a jury was told.

Darren Lester, 51, also sexually assaulted the girl after turning into a country lane and stopping his car, alleged prosecutor Kitty Taylor.

In a video interview played to the jury at York Crown Court, the girl said the driver forced himself on her and she struggled to push him away.

She said she had tears running down her face afterwards as he asked her if she was “all right”. He asked if she was going to tell anyone what had happened, the court heard.

Mrs Taylor told the court: “She was vulnerable, alone in a taxi at the time. She had left her friends behind. The defendant abused that trust.”

The two had never met before the alleged attack late last November, and Lester later told police the girl had consented to the sex acts. He also said he had grown-up children older than her.

Lester, of Olympian Court, off Hull Road, York, denies rape and a sexual assault.

Opening the prosecution, Mrs Taylor said the girl had spent the evening with her boyfriend, at the end of which he had called a taxi for her to take her to a different part of York.

Lester had picked her up in Wigginton. She had been drinking in a private house, and was “tipsy”, but not drunk.

Lester was chatty and she became uncomfortable when he started making sexual remarks.

Mrs Taylor said when he stopped the car, Lester pinned the girl by both arms in her seat and tried to kiss her. She resisted and he sexually assaulted her and then raped her.

The girl said she did not know how she managed to stop him. He drove her to an area she recognised and she got him to drop her off some distance from her home.

As she walked home, she phoned her boyfriend and a friend and told them what had happened. They urged her to go to police.

She said she did not know what to do and she did not want her mother to know. She said Lester made her give him her phone number and after he dropped her off, he rang her.

She said while she was considering whether to go to police, she rang his number back to ask if he had cameras in the taxi.

Later she got a text from him asking if she wanted to come for a drink and she texted back that she didn't want him to contact her again.

In February, during an argument with her mother, she told her what had happened and her mother told police. The trial continues.


source: http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/1080241 ... ourt_told/

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Sounds like yet another one who thinks he's a kid in a candy store not a responsible adult

_________________
lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

sounds a bit iffy to me

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

If the phone calls are as the girl stated that would be easy to prove. I doubt this would have gone to court unless there was strong evidence but it wouldn't be the first time a cabbie/ph has been accused of such things to cover up for something the girl doesn't want people to know happened. However there have been an awful lot of cases over the years of drivers once they realise the job puts them alone in a car with vulnerable girls can't keep their hands off !

_________________
lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

he isnt even a taxi driver he worked for a private hire firm in york he has told everyone she came on to him he has been a private hire driver for a lot of years i think i believe him but its too late his life is ruined now

I was thinking the same.

which firm was he working for ? anyone know

How do they manage to do this

_________________
Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

York rape trial: Taxi driver is cleared


A TAXI driver has been cleared of raping a teenage girl as he drove her home from her boyfriend’s house in York.

Darren Lester, 52, was unanimously found not guilty of rape and a sexual assault by a jury at York Crown Court today. He had been accused of forcing himself on the 17-year-old after stopping his car in a country lane last November.

The private hire driver, of Olympian Court off Lawrence Street, told the court during his two-and-a-half day trial that the teenager, who he had never met before, had “forced” him into sex acts and he had gone ahead with them as he had been “100 per cent sure” that she consented.

The Crown Prosecution Service had claimed he pinned the girl in her seat and tried to kiss her, then attacked her when she resisted.

The jury was told Mr Lester had collected the girl from Wigginton after she had spent an evening with her boyfriend, who had called for a taxi to take her to another part of the city. Jurors were told she was “tipsy” but not drunk.

Summing up the defence case, barrister Nicholas de la Poer said people behave in unexpected ways and suggested the encounter was fuelled by “alcohol and hormones”. He said the girl may have felt “crashing regret” afterwards.

He said Mr Lester did not deny the encounter and conceded it had happened consensually, which indicated he was telling the truth and was “enormously to his credit”. He said: “This is a court of law, not of morals - nobody is asking you to like him.

“The fact somebody has behaved poorly does not mean they are not telling the truth.”

Before leaving to consider their verdict, the jury heard from prosecuting barrister Kitty Taylor, who said the fact Mr Lester conceded he willingly had a sexual encounter with the girl could indicate something about his character.

She said Mr Lester weaved truth with fantasy in his statement to police, saying: “What he did was take advantage of a young girl, push his luck and, when she said no, insisted.”

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/1080655 ... s_cleared/

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

interesting outcome , but will he ever get his licence reinstated ???

i know for a fact he is not the first in York to be in this exact situation and others were permitted to have the licence again , but i believe the rules have been changed since then.

The name rings a bell as i used to drive at streamline til a few years ago - was he one of theirs ?

He should get his badge back he's done nothing wrong.

cleared of rape but he certainly did take advantage of her by the sounds of it I wouldn't have thought it was a straightforward matter getting his badge back

as I said before "kid in a candy store" would you want someone like that driving your daughter home after she's had a few drinks ?

_________________
lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Shagging some tipsy bird on the way home in the back of his licensed car, is about as bad as it can get licensing wise.

I hope he doesn't get his license back.

_________________
IDFIMH

Didn't see that bit Nah feck him off.

Cleared of rape but guilty of immoral behaviour, do these drivers ever learn from their mistakes? I actually think some do. Should they be given a second chance and get their badge back? I'm glad I don't have to make that decision.

_________________
Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!