Exeter nervous tic taxi driver cleared of outraging public decency after judge throws out case A taxi driver has been cleared of outraging public decency after a Judge threw out the case against him.
Alexandru Dragan was alleged to have put his hand inside his trousers while taking a family from Exeter to a holiday cottage at Cheriton Fitzpaine.
A judge at Exeter Crown Court dismissed the case after ruling that there was no case to answer even if the account of the 17-year-old girl in the front seat and her mother in the back were accepted by the jury.
Recorder Mr Philip Mott, QC, said the test of what amounted to outrage was very high and the alleged actions did not constitute the offence.
He said:"I conclude it would not be safe to leave this case to the jury. The House of Lords have made it clear that outraging is a very strong word and goes beyond offending susceptibilities or even shocking reasonable people.
"It would have to involve very offensive sexual displays and there is a question of whether what is alleged her, even taken at its highest, amounts to that.
"There was no removal of clothing or even the sight of underwear or flesh. There was no exposure of the genitals or sign of an erection.
"It does not in law amount to conduct as strong as outraging public decency, however improper or offensive it may have appeared and clearly was perceived to be by the girl."
The case ended before Dragan was able to put his side of the story to the jury but in police interviews he said there had been nothing sexual in his actions.
He blamed a nervous tic which he has suffered from since childhood and discomfort arising from a gall bladder operation for his 'jerking movements'. He said his use of a mobile phone on his thigh may also have been misinterpreted.
Dragan, aged 36, of Exwick Hill, Exeter, denied outraging public decency and was found not guilty on the directions of the judge.
During the one day case the 17-year-old tourist said she was shocked by seeing the driver putting his hand inside his trousers.
She was in the front seat while her younger sister, mother and grandmother were in the back of the Apple Taxi during the journey from Exeter St David's to a holiday cottage in Mid Devon in April last year.
She said:"His left hand was holding the bottom of the steering wheel and his right hand was on his groin. I looked again and he was moving his hand around. I looked away.
"What I saw was him moving his hand in scratching action and pinching his trousers up and down. He kept turning to face me. It did not look as if he was uncomfortable.
"I felt awkward. I did not think it was the sort of thing you should do in front of a stranger. I looked out of the window and when I looked back his right hand was on the wheel and his left was down his trousers.
"His hand went into his trousers up to his wrist. It was on the dead centre of his groin and moving slowly under his trousers. I thought he was touching himself inappropriately. He stopped after one or two minutes.
"I was worried and uncomfortable and a bit disgusted. I had never been in a situation like that before. I did not think he had an innocent reason for touching himself like that. I thought it was a sexual act.
"It was 15 to 20 minutes before we arrived at Cheriton Fitzpaine and during that time I opened the window and gazed out of it.
"When we arrived I walked away from the car immediately. I told my mum I didn't like that driver and she said neither did she."
Mr Jonathan Barnes, defending, pointed out that Dragan was driving his taxi in broad daylight with other members of the girl's family in the back.
He said there was at the very least a realistic possibility of an innocent explanation for his movements and there was medical evidence to support the account he had given to the police.
Mr Barnes said:"He is also very concerned as a Romanian. He and his wife and the Romanian community generally feel they have met a great deal of prejudice in this country."
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