Posted this in the wrong thread a couple of days ago, so many readers will have already seen it
I just skim read the piece, so put it in the thread about the Boro driver, but:
- both cases heard at around the same time;
- both cases at Teesside Crown Court;
- both cases reported on the Gazette Live/Teesside Live website;
- both cases arose from pick-ups a few miles either side of Middlesbrough;
- both cases broadly similar as regards the facts;
- both drivers also live in Middlesbrough, and potentially as close as 200m from each other, although only street names are reported rather than including house numbers, so because one of the streets in particular is quite long, they're probably a bit further apart than that
(The street names only is I think another contempt of court thing - when you read court cases like this it's common to provide street names for the accused, but never house numbers.)
However, if one important fact had been different I might have quickly realised which case was which, but I'd better not say what...
Taxi driver accused of raping female passenger claims sex was consensualhttps://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/tees ... e-20539602Naveed Raja is accused of attacking the drunk woman after picking her up in RedcarA taxi driver accused of raping and sexually assaulting a passenger has said they had consensual sex.
Naveed Raja is accused of attacking the drunk woman after picking her up from a night out in Redcar in January 2019 and is currently standing trial at Teesside Crown Court.
Raja, of Lansdowne Road, Middlesbrough, is charged with rape and sexual assault.
He denies both charges.
The court had previously heard that the 48-year-old was working for Club Cars at the time of the alleged offences.
This week, prosecutor Matthew Bean told the jury how Raja collected the "heavily intoxicated" woman from Redcar High Street as a fare.
It is alleged that Raja then stopped his vehicle on a country lane or a lay-by where he committed the serious sexual assaults.
On Thursday, the jury heard evidence from Raja, who claims he had known the woman and said the sex was consensual.
Raja told the jury that during the taxi journey, the woman began "kissing me and throwing her legs across the driver seat".
"The horn beeped twice and I told her to stop", he said.
"I said you can't do that and pushed her away."
Raja claims the woman began to "unzip" his jeans, before he told her to "stop messing about".
"She tried to grab my hand and put it between her legs, she said 'I want you to do it'", he said.
Defence barrister, Rod Hunt, asked Raja: "Did you have sexual intercourse with her?"
"Yes, I did", Raja replied, "but I would never do anything like that without consent."
Mr Hunt asked how long it lasted, with Raja saying around "two minutes" before he said he then drove off and took her home.
Raja told the jury that upon dropping the alleged victim off at her home, she gave him a "kiss and a cuddle".
The trial continues.