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PostPosted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 7:44 am 
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Man arrested after woman assaulted by 'taxi driver' in Abingdon

A 33-YEAR-OLD man has been arrested after a woman was sexually assaulted by a 'taxi driver'.

Police say the victim, aged in her 20s, fell asleep in the back of a taxi while travelling from Oxford to Abingdon and awoke to find the driver 'undoing her trousers'. She told police she was then sexually assaulted.

The suspect has since been released under investigation.

The woman got into the car in Oxford's Park End Street at around 1.30am on Sunday, October 14. She escaped from the vehicle in West St Helen Street, Abingdon. Officers have not yet said if they believe the car to be a genuine licensed taxi and are still appealing for witnesses.

Secretary of the City of Oxford Licensed Taxicab Association (COLTA), Sajad Khan said: “It’s a very unfortunate thing that’s happened and I really hope that the police get to the bottom of it and find the culprit."

Anyone with information should call 101 quoting reference 43180313772

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PostPosted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 8:32 am 
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here we go again OXFORD :roll:

where's our Oxford correspondent does he know this driver is he one of the rogues or did he have a good name before this

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PostPosted: Tue Oct 23, 2018 12:21 pm 
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edders23 wrote:
here we go again OXFORD :roll:

where's our Oxford correspondent does he know this driver is he one of the rogues or did he have a good name before this



When I ask our licensing officer who's an EX "Licensing Officer" in Oxford anything about Oxford he plugs his ears and walks away.


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PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2018 3:53 pm 
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Nidge2 wrote:
edders23 wrote:
here we go again OXFORD :roll:

where's our Oxford correspondent does he know this driver is he one of the rogues or did he have a good name before this



When I ask our licensing officer who's an EX "Licensing Officer" in Oxford anything about Oxford he plugs his ears and walks away.



can you blame him ?

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 12, 2019 8:47 am 
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Police give update on shocking taxi sex attack five months on

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/17493 ... months-on/

POLICE are yet to charge anyone five months after a woman was subjected to a terrifying sex attack in the back of a taxi.

However, a 34-year-old man who was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault in October remains a suspect, police have confirmed.

The victim, aged in her 20s, had fallen asleep while being driven from Oxford to Abingdon and awoke to find the driver of the car undoing her trousers.

She was then sexually assaulted.

Officers confirmed that the 34-year-old from Oxford was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault the day after the incident.

He was subsequently released under investigation.

The woman had taken a taxi from Park End Street in Oxford city centre at around 1.30am on October 14, and was driven to Abingdon.

After she was assaulted the woman escaped from the taxi near West St Helen Street in Abingdon but was followed by the driver.

She approached a member of the public for help before the driver left the scene.

The driver is described as an Asian male with short black hair and stubble.

Officers have not yet said if they believe the car to be a genuine licensed taxi or one working illegally.

Thames Valley Police are still appealing for information on the attack.

A police spokesperson said “The investigation is still ongoing and anyone with information should contact the force quoting reference number 43180313772.”

Speaking in October, secretary of the City of Oxford Licensed Taxicab Association, Sajad Khan said the taxi community would do everything they could to help the investigation.

He added: “It’s a very unfortunate thing that’s happened.

"I really hope that the police get to the bottom of it and find the culprit.”


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PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 1:38 pm 
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This is an odd one, and no obvious explanation - attack happened in October 2018, and five months later no one had been charged, although looks like the perp convicted a few days ago was the one arrested initially and described as a suspect back then - the ages certainly match.

And, as the second piece below states, the council suspended his badge a couple of days after the initial incident and arrest.

And now he's been tried and convicted. Obviously the pandemic will have added to the delay, but still... :?


Minicab driver found guilty of sexually assaulting female customer

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/19397 ... -customer/

A MINICAB driver has been found guilty of sexually abusing a female customer on the way home from a night out in Oxford.

Ali Said, 36, had denied three counts of sexual assault, claiming that the woman had initiated the contact between them as he drove her back to Abingdon in October 2018.

However, jurors at Oxford Crown Court yesterday convicted him of two counts. He was acquitted of a third charge.

Said, of Union Street, Oxford, was remanded in custody by Judge Maria Lamb, who ordered the preparation of a pre-sentence report. He will be sentenced on July 22.

During the trial, the jury heard that Said’s victim had been drinking at the Thirst nightclub in Park End Street, Oxford, on October 14 when she began to feel unwell.

She left the club at around 1.15am and got into Said’s white Toyota Prius minicab. Despite not being licensed to pick up fares from the street, as a hackney cab driver would, Said told her to get in the front passenger seat – which he reclined.

The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, woke up to find Said touching her. The cab was parked up and she did not know where they were. He was said to have repeated the word ‘sex’ to her.

'Get me to Abingdon'

She tried to sit up and shouted ‘get me to Abingdon’. When they arrived in the town she withdrew money from a cash point and threw £30 on the seat of the cab, the court heard.

Said was swiftly arrested but denied all allegations against him when he was interviewed by the police.

He accused the woman of ‘telling lies’.

Opening the case to the jury earlier this week, prosecutor Isabel Delamere said: “All the surrounding events appear to be agreed. So, the timings are agreed, the car is agreed, the fact he was the driver is agreed, the route is agreed, the condition of the complainant as she left the club is agreed.

“So, it really amounts to this: was the sexual activity that took place in the taxi because, clearly, there was, was it as she described...in other words without her consent?”

[Article is strangely structured and reads like the end has been left out, but as far as I can see that's it.]


Minicab sex attacker hasn't held licence since 2018

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/19417 ... ince-2018/

A MINICAB driver was stripped of his licence as soon as police told the council he was being investigated for assaulting a female customer.

Oxford City Council confirmed that Ali Said’s private hire licence was suspended with immediate effect from October 16, 2018.

It followed 36-year-old Said’s arrest for touching a woman as he drove her home to Abingdon from Oxford in the early hours of October 14.

A spokesman for the city council said: “The Council assisted in the police investigation and provided all requested information and statements.

“The private hire driver licence was never reinstated due to the ongoing police investigation and it expired in 2020.”

[Have deliberately missed out the final few paragraphs of this one, because it's just a rehash of the trial above.]


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PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 1:40 pm 
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This kind of thread also highlights a potential problem with Edders' suggestion of omni threads for stuff like this (which is in some respects a good idea).

Cases like this would end up split and perhaps several pages between articles in a huge thread, rather than all the relevant articles being together in a short and manageable thread like in this case, even when the pieces are several years apart.


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PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 3:01 pm 
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Maybe but my thoughts on omni threads are for things like guide dog refusals , "uber local" , DVLA swoops etc where all together enables much easier comparisons and also a much easier to grasp idea of the scale of such problems

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PostPosted: Sat Jul 03, 2021 7:26 pm 
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The delay could have been for a number of reasons.

He could have left the country, the CPS maybe only decided to prosecute when they have the three separate complainants rather than just the one.

But the main thing is this scumbag has been found guilty on two counts and he is going to spend time in custody.

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PostPosted: Sun Jul 04, 2021 9:23 pm 
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Sussex is spot on with this, the guy left the country on a family excuse. He’s well known for parking outside nightclubs and looking for illegal fares. A question we have asked why was there no enforcement? The licensing department lets the private hire park up Willy nilly.

Obviously I can’t say much more but he works for one of the big private hire companies and it’s not 001 - oh and I’m
Pretty sure he got a certificate of good conduct from the embassy instead of a dbs.


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 05, 2021 1:43 am 
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187ums2 wrote:
Sussex is spot on with this, the guy left the country on a family excuse.

Makes sense.

Sussex also suggested that it might be because there were three complainants eventually found rather than the initial one, but as a I read it there was only one complainant but three separate charges?


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PostPosted: Sat Aug 07, 2021 11:09 am 
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This is a couple of weeks old now, and only came across it when looking at that recent stuff about the 001 drivers.

But tidies the case up a bit :?


Jail for Oxford cab driver who molested female customer

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/19464 ... -customer/

A minicab driver who molested a female customer while her driving home has been jailed for seven years.

Said Ali, 36, was working off the books when he picked up the woman outside Thirst nightclub in Park End Street, Oxford, in 2018. As a minicab driver he was not allowed to pick up customers who had not pre-booked.

She woke to find the Oxford man was touching her sexually and had driven to a remote countryside spot. He was said to have repeated the word ‘sex’ to her.

Last month, jurors found Ali, formerly of Union Street, guilty of sexual assault by penetration and two counts of sexual assault by touching.

And on Thursday, Judge Maria Lamb heard he still did not accept his guilt – maintaining that his victim had initiated the sexual contact.

Sending him down for seven years, the judge said: “In the early hours of October 14, 2018, a young woman approached your cab outside Thirst nightclub and it was quite clear I am sure to you that she was in drink.

“You, of course, were out there because you were hoping to earn extra money, having finished your last authorised job at about quarter to 11. Thereafter you were working as it was put ‘off the books’.

“She got in the front side of your cab. She was talking about feeling sick, she gave you her address and the two of you set off and instead of taking her directly to her address, which must have been well within your capabilities as a local taxi driver, you took her on a drive out into the countryside.

“During the course of that you put her seat down. She had, in effect, passed out in drink.

“She thought she could trust you and you took advantage of that and you abused that trust.”

The victim had been particularly vulnerable, the judge said.

She added that she had considered whether Ali should be classed as a ‘dangerous’ offender and made subject to an extended sentence but concluded that the seven year jail term was sufficient. He must register as a sex offender for life and will serve two thirds of his sentence behind bars.

During the trial, the jury heard that Ali’s victim had reported the assault to her partner and housemate when she got back to Abingdon. The cab driver was swiftly arrested.

Mitigating, Martin Khoshdel said his client respected the jury’s decision but did not agree with their findings. The offence had been opportunistic rather than planned.

Ali, a British citizen, had set up his own fast food business and hoped to sponsor his family to come to the UK from Afghanistan. He was of previous good character. A number of positive character references were read during the trial.


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PostPosted: Sat Aug 07, 2021 12:53 pm 
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Ali, a British citizen, had set up his own fast food business and hoped to sponsor his family to come to the UK from Afghanistan. He was of previous good character. A number of positive character references were read during the trial.


and hereby is part of the problem we seem to be importing huge numbers of fast food chefs, fast food delivery drivers all of whom cannot handle the temptations of a country which is not strictly Muslim controlled

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