Jail for Liverpool private-hire driver who sexually assaulted three women in his cab Abanezer Befakadu touched passenger's legs and forcibly kissed one victim so hard she was left with a bruised lip
A Liverpool minicab driver who sexually assaulted three women in his minicab after picking them up was jailed for four years.
Abanezer Befekadu, of Elaine Street, Toxteth, was found guilty after a trial of three separate assaults on female passengers while working for private-hire firms on Merseyside.
In one of the incidents – which all took place within the space of three months last year – the 26-year-old attacker forcibly kissed his victim so hard he bruised her lip and touched her leg after pulling over, leaving her anxious about meeting men, and feeling they may have a sexual agenda.
The first assault took place in the city centre last August, when the taxi driver picked up a woman in her 40s and began asking her inappropriate questions.
She told him to stop the taxi at which point he touched her leg.
A hysterical phone call she made to police was played to the jury during the trial.
In the second assault, in September last year, Befekadu picked up a 17-year-old girl and her friend and again began asking her inappropriate questions, before touching his victim’s leg and pulling her close to him after stopping in Bootle.
The third victim, a woman in her 20s, got into Befekadu’s cab in the city centre with a friend in October last year for a journey to North Wales.
After the first woman was dropped off, the minicab driver again began asking his victim inappropriate questions about boyfriends. He then pulled over on a street in Drury, Flintshire, before leaning over and forcibly kissing her, leaving a bruise on her lip.
In a victim impact statement she said she was left feeling anxious about meeting men and said she could no longer take them at face value.
At Liverpool crown court, Judge Robert Trevor-Jones jailed Befekadu for 12 months consecutively for each of the first two assaults, and two years consecutively for the third.
He was also put on the Sex Offender’s Register indefinitely and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £120.
source:
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/jai ... er-8114334
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