Taxi Driver Online

Sex attacker lures vulnerable teen into car after pretending to be a taxi driver

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/s ... n-24068888

Ricardas Mikuckis, 33, drove the woman to a secluded area, locked her inside her car as he smoked a cigarette, and then climbed in and sexually assaulted her

A sex attacker preyed on a young woman leaving a nightclub and lured her into his car by pretending to be a taxi driver, chilling CCTV footage shows.

"Calculated" and "predatory" Ricardas Mikuckis was out looking for vulnerable women when he spotted the 18-year-old in Cardiff city centre in the early-morning hours.

The woman courageously fought him off after he drove her to a secluded area, and has been left severely traumatised by the attack.


Image: The Mirror/South Wales Police

Chilling CCTV footage shows 33-year-old Mikuckis lurking in his red Ford Kuga and watching the intoxicated woman speaking to a taxi driver, who had given her his phone so she could call someone for the fare.

The woman walked off and got into Mikuckis' car, believing he was a taxi driver, after he pulled up alongside her.


Image: The Mirror/South Wales Police

She became suspicious when he took an unexpected turn and began driving her to a secluded area after midnight on August 29, 2019.

The woman told him he was going the wrong way, but Mikuckis, from Newport, calmly got out, locked her inside and began smoking a cigarette.

He climbed back inside and sexually assaulted the woman, kissing and touching her, before she managed to fight him off and flee.

Visibly distressed, she flagged down a passing vehicle and told the driver she had been attacked.

Police used CCTV and ANPR to track down Mikuckis.

A cigarette butt with his DNA on it was recovered by police at the scene of the attack.

Mikuckis denied sexual assault but was found guilty following a trial at Cardiff Crown Court.

He was sentenced on Friday to 15 months in jail.

He had denied sexually assaulting the woman.

Speaking after the hearing, South Wales Police Sergeant Mark Wonnacott said: “Having viewed the CCTV and interviewed the distraught victim in this case, I have no doubt that Ricardas Mikuckis is a calculated and predatory individual who went out that night looking for a vulnerable woman to prey upon.

“The CCTV is chilling, and what happened to the young victim in this case is every woman’s worst nightmare.

"Her courage in fighting him off that night, and in supporting this prosecution throughout to ensure this dangerous individual is jailed, is commendable.

“This has had a devastating impact on her, shattering her confidence and her trust in others, and I only hope that today’s sentencing provides her with some closure and enables her to begin rebuilding her life.

“I also hope it provides other victims of sexual assault, who may be reluctant to come forward, with the confidence to do so. We have specially trained officers and work with a wide range of support services to ensure victims are fully supported.”

Don't know what that's all about - presumably the taxi driver has given the woman his phone so she can phone an office for a car? The cab has an illuminated roofsign, so I'm assuming it's HC, but for whatever reason the driver couldn't do the fare.

Anyway, worth looking at the CCTV footage on the Mirror's website, because the still images above don't quite capture how brazen the perp was. He was doing a U-turn towards the woman before the cab had even started moving away. And pulls in behind the cab before it had really moved off. The way he quickly U-turned when the woman walked away but the cab was still stationary suggests he would have pulled up beside her even if the cab hadn't moved at all, but it just started moving as it looked like the perp might drive past him.

But the cab driver must have seen what was going on and smelt a rat, surely?

perhaps she was short of money and the phone call was to get someone to promise the driver payment at the other end and they didn't pick up ?

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

Yes, that's very plausible. I was reading 'fare' as in 'job', 'trip' or 'passenger' rather than 'cash', 'money' or 'payment'

Got to be a reason why the first cab didn't take her. Maybe she was off her head, no money who know, or maybe he lent her his phone to get mum or dad to pick her up. Very much doubt he gave her his phone to call another cab. That doesn't make sense.

That said the taxi driver shouldn't have ignored the situation when the lady got into the private vehicle.

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IDFIMH

Indeed, think I misconstrued the word 'fare' earlier

I was thinking more along the lines that on very rare occasions I've given my phone to someone to phone for an eight-seater, or whatever, rather than phoning them myself

So the cab in the photo may have been an independent HC that had just loaded up, or had just accepted a juicier pre-booked run, say, and gave the girl his phone to book via a circuit, or maybe he was a PHD who thought that he wasn't allowed to make a booking, but that the girl could do it legally via his phone.

So not impossible situations, but the scenarios suggested by yourself and Edders do seem more plausible

15 months isn't a lot for ruining the poor girls life I do hope he can be extradited upon release

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

Yep to Scotland.

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IDFIMH

The rehashed* Wales Online version is maybe a bit clearer about the phone thing, but still not totally unambiguous in my opinion



(*WalesOnline is part of the same Reach plc group as the Mirror, which is why I use the word 'rehashed' - often articles like this are shared across outlets and there are only some minor changes. That photo on the GlasGO merger this morning is also hosted on the WalesOnline domain for some odd reason, but the GlasgowLive newsite is also part of Reach plc.)

Your view on the sentence is shared by the Court of Appeal.

https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/ ... -attacker/

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IDFIMH