Private-hire driver who raped passenger has bid for freedom rejectedA private-hire driver who was jailed after raping a passenger in Nottingham has failed to convince top judges that he should be set free.
Shapoor Ahmad Azimi, 37, of Chadwick Road, Bobbers Mill, was jailed for eight years at Nottingham Crown Court in April last year.
A woman in her 20s had been to a Nottingham nightclub in 2015 and got into Azimi's taxi which was waiting outside.
She was clearly affected by drink, Sir Richard Henriques told London's Appeal Court today. When they got near to her home he asked her to get into the back of the taxi where he raped her.
Azimi's defence was that it was the victim who had instigated the sexual activity. She had performed a sex act upon him, he claimed.
He had faced two counts of rape in connection with the same incident, and the jury found him guilty of one and acquitted him of the second.
Beth Crocker, for Azimi, argued that the 'inconsistent' verdicts made his conviction 'unsafe'.
Evidence about his previous conviction and caution for kerb-crawling, and mobile phone activity, should not have gone before the jury, added the barrister.
But Sir Richard said: "We have no difficulty in rejecting the submission on inconsistent verdicts.
"These verdicts were not inconsistent and this ground is unarguable," added the judge, who was sitting with Lady Justice Sharp and Mr Justice Sweeney.
Azimi had in 2006 propositioned a woman for sex believing she was a prostitute. She was in fact an undercover police officer.
He received a caution for that. Then in 2011, he was convicted of soliciting a prostitute.
In 2015, he had propositioned several women with text messages seeking various forms of sexual activity, asking them about pricing and if they were working.
This evidence helped the jury resolve an 'important issue' in the case - who instigated the sexual activity - said Sir Richard.
"To have excluded this evidence would have been manifestly unfair to the prosecution and the complainant," he added.
"This ground is also unarguable and accordingly this application is dismissed."
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