Taxi Driver Online

Private hire driver who raped woman at Erdington B&B jailed for 11 years


A private hire driver who raped a “vulnerable” woman who had been out celebrating her birthday has been jailed for 11-and-half-years.

Mohammed Shabir targeted the victim after spotting her outside a gay club in Birmingham in the early hours of September 22 2013.

Birmingham Crown Court heard she had argued with her partner and was looking to get a taxi home.

Shabir, 39, of Hutton Road, Handsworth instead took the woman, who barely spoke English, to a quiet B&B in Erdington where he subjected her to a humiliating rape ordeal.

Shabir, who was convicted of two charges of rape by a jury at the city’s crown court, was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

The court heard that the woman, who spoke very little English, had earlier been involved in an argument with her partner.

Judge Murray Creed said: “She was clearly distressed when she encountered you in your taxi outside the club she had been visiting.

“I have no doubt that in her mind she thought she was getting into a taxi and that she would be going home.”

The defendant had initially driven towards Five Ways before then changing direction and going to the B&B in Slade Road.

During the journey Shabir had quizzed the victim about her sexual orientation.

The judge continued: “I am also satisfied as far as your culpability is concerned there was significant planning.

“You phoned from your cab to the B&B and paid for a room.

“You were to say you had used it on previous occasions.

“I also believe there was an abuse of position of trust.

“She was entitled to believe she was in a vehicle that would be traceable.

“I am also satisfied there was targeting of a vulnerable victim.

“The location was remote. It was on the opposite side of the city from where she lived.”

Once in the B&B the victim was subjected to a number of hours of “degradation and humiliation,” Shabir ignoring her pleas that she did not want to have sex.

Judge Creed said Shabir had later tried to ring the woman while she was making a complaint at a police station.

Although the number had come up as withheld officers were able to trace Shabir who, shortly afterwards, changed the taxi firm he worked for.

Rob Cowley, defending, said there had been a certain degree of opportunism about the offence.

He went on “He had been working as a taxi driver for a number of years, since 2002, without a single complaint received until this particular morning.”

source: http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/mi ... ed-9983901

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

How many hadn't reported him?

What has happened to The Trade we all gave so many years to ? There is so much of this going on and, in all honesty, I can only see the problems getting worse. The public should be giving the service they are paying for and, it looks like trust is most certainly, going out the window with such bad Press.

The trade went south many years ago when it was opened up and allowed to be flooded with non UK born drivers many of whom have little or no respect for the customers they are picking up. The drive by councils to get competitive pricing and grab lots of licensing dosh has left us in this state. It is past redemption all we can do individually is try and maintain our own reputations in order to keep our regular customers. The rest will always go for the cheapest and leave themselves open to poor standards of behavior and service

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

Well said on the point, but ! What is The Trade prepared to do, to rid such operation's ? In all honesty. I think we are the last of a dying breed and, can it ever, or ? resurrect under such Government Rule ?

We need to use this and the many other cases to ensure regulation and restriction of all passenger trips, our LAs need to put passenger safety way above everything else, maybe a national dossier of all incidents of say the last 10 years could be put together and distributed to all local authorities, maybe it's time we TDO members did something constructive to save our trade, I'm sure we have enough in the TDO tank to put something together and then distribute via e-mail to our LAs, what have we got to lose.

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Alway's been about Tightening the Grip!

Every now and then we are bombarded with government adverts saying '' we are watching you, if your working and claiming benefits, you will be caught '' or '' grass a benefit cheat '' . But never '' grass an illegal worker ''

Maybe if we get rid of these type of drivers then it would be a start. Then move onto the ones who claim benefits and also the part timers who do not declare their income . Route out these types and income may rise as there would be less drivers. Then
standards may improve.

The problem is that illegal drivers are "protected" by their friends and relatives and this trade has become a magnet for people from around the world looking for a uk job

what is really needed is for the government to wake up and realize that there is a massive problem with "self employment" in the taxi trade and to make it harder for non UK born people to enter the trade and be exploited by plate barons etc. "self employed" status is something you should need to qualify for not just declare yourself to be. It should be that you need to prove yourself to be a safe and reliable person by pre-qualifying either through a period of time in the UK or by undergoing a period of training and assessment designed to weed out those who might prey on the vulnerable before they are given a badge. The problem is of course is that that costs money rather than generate money and there are too many vested interests in keeping things as they are

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

A lot of bad guys have entered it.

And operators desperate for drivers cash haven't helped matters.

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IDFIMH

Fully understandable, I wonder how many on TDO feel, they are being forced out of their Trade, (That, they probably gave a good bit of their life to) by a Government that, can send a Drone to eliminate a threat thousands of miles away, but can sit back and see thousand's of lives ruined Nationally, and, lift the carpet then, implement the brush ??

They should never have legalised P/H 1976...

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Justice for the 96. It has only taken 27 years...........repeat the same lies for 27 years and the truth sounds strange to people!

I don't feel as if I'm being forced out, but I wish a significant amount of nutters, pervs and thieves that are currently in the trade were.

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IDFIMH

Aint Scottish taxi law a matter for the Scottish Government?

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Minicab driver Mohammed Shabir who drugged and raped gay Erdington woman has conviction appeal thrown out

A Birmingham minicab driver who drugged and raped a gay woman in an Erdington hotel has failed to convince top judges he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

The victim was attacked after going to a nightclub in the city in September 2013 with her girlfriend, Lady Justice Macur told London's Appeal Court.

But, after the couple argued, she set off home alone in a minicab driven by Mohammed Shabir, 40, of Hutton Road, Handsworth.

She said Shabir held her in the cab and forced her to swallow gum which made her limbs go weak.

He then took her to a hotel before locking the door and raping her. Shabir then drove her home, saying he would call her and that he 'loved her'.

When her partner returned to their flat the following morning, the victim told her she had been raped on her way home by the minicab driver.

Swabs taken at hospital matched Shabir's DNA, said the judge.

A phone call to her while she was at the hospital came from Shabir's phone and she picked him out in an ID parade.

Just two months later, in November 2013, the victim was attacked again in her flat and knocked unconscious by two men.

She believed that one of them was the minicab driver who had raped her.

Shabir, who had no previous convictions, had been a private hire vehicle driver licensed by the city council since 2002.

He protested his innocence, insisting he had 'consensual sex' with the woman.

But the jury did not believe him and he was convicted of two counts of rape at Birmingham Crown Court on August 26 last year.

He was acquitted of kidnap, false imprisonment, grievous bodily harm with intent and sexual assault, but was caged for 11 and a half years.

His barrister, Rob Cowley, today (Wednesday, May 11) argued his trial was unfair and his convictions should be overturned.

Shabir's lawyers were not allowed to cross-examine the victim about an allegation of rape, involving two different men, earlier in 2013.

That allegation was 'plainly, demonstratively false' and would have cast doubt on her 'credibility' in front of the jury, the barrister argued.

But Lady Justice Macur, who was sitting with Mr Justice Goss and Judge David Aubrey QC, rejected Shabir's complaints.

She said the court was 'certain' there was not enough evidence to warrant cross-examining the victim about the earlier allegation.

Dismissing the appeal, she concluded: "There are no other matters which give us any cause to doubt the safety of this conviction'.


Read more: http://www.suttoncoldfieldobserver.co.u ... z48NKKkGCu

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin