A woman trying to get home safely after a night out with friends was instead taken by a taxi driver to a remote location where he brutally raped her. Experienced cabbie Abdul Amiri has been jailed for the horror attack on the woman who fell victim after she called for a taxi following an evening with friends in Bolton town centre. Amiri, 49, – a taxi driver of 17 years – took the fare but after climbing into his vehicle the woman became concerned when he began driving her home in a different direction than usual.
Instead of ensuring she arrived home safely Amiri drove the terrified passenger to an isolated area on the outskirts of the town where he drove up a dirt track before launching his “appalling” attack. The victim, who bravely faced Amiri in court, said the ordeal was so horrific she now suffers from flashbacks whenever her partner hugs her.
Amiri, of Bolton, cowardly denied the offence but was found guilty of one count of rape after a trial at Manchester Crown Court.
But the jury found him not guilty of kidnapping and false imprisonment.
Amiri was jailed for 12-and-a-half years.
The trial heard how the victim has a “number of vulnerabilities” and was said to have been “intoxicated to an extent”, and had bought food from a takeaway before booking a taxi to get safe passage home in the early hours of the morning.
Amiri was assigned the fare and picked the woman up but her fears started when he failed to follow the standard route to her home. At one point he stopped the car and asked her to get into the front, which she did.
Amiri continued driving and began to “touch and rub” her leg, prompting the fearful woman to ask him to stop.
He then drove her to what was described in court as an “isolated, remote location”, where he raped her.
A UK Taxi (Image: -)
Bolton town centre. (Image: Manchester Evening News)
Judge Sarah Johnston said: “The public place their trust in taxi drivers to convey members of the public, some of whom will be vulnerable by a whole range of circumstances, to their destinations not only safely but with dignity and respect.”
But Judge Johnson told Amiri that for his own “sexual needs” he had “shattered this.”
She added: “There was an element of abduction implicit in this offence You drove her deliberately to a remote location in order to commit this offence.”
After the attack, in which Amiri failed to use protection, he drove his victim home and told her she “didn’t have to pay.”
The judge added: “She arrived home to her worried partner – dishevelled and in incredible distress.”
The victim read out a statement in court addressing the impact of Amiri’s crime. She said of her partner: “When he goes to hug me I get flashbacks of what happened.
“I won’t go out on my own anymore. I also feel very paranoid when I leave my house. I look to see if anybody is following me.”
She told said she is ‘too scared’ to answer the door.
The judge added: “This was a vulnerable passenger, vulnerable by virtue of her particular characteristics, but also because she was alone and intoxicated.
“The public place their trust in taxi drivers to convey members of the public, some of whom will be vulnerable by an infinite range of characteristics, to their destination, not only safely, but with dignity and respect.
“For your own sexual needs, you shattered those boundaries and caused significant harm to your victim.”
The judge said of the victim’s brave decision to give evidence in court: “She has shown immense courage, not only in the aftermath of this appalling ordeal, but throughout the court process.”
Alistair Reid, mitigating, said Amiri still denies his guilt and is concerned with how his family will support itself with him in jail.
But the judge said: “You express appropriate concern for them, particularly in relation to family finances, however, you show no concern or remorse for the complainant in this case.”
Mr Reid accepted concerns about his client’s lack of remorse and conceded that Amiri’s crime had been a “breach of trust” as a taxi driver.
Judge Johnson told the rapist he would have to serve two thirds of his sentence behind bars before being released on licence.
She also hit him with an unlimited restraining order forbidding him from contacting his victim, with an unlimited sexual harm prevention order and an unlimited notification requirement.
The order will prevent Amiri from working as a taxi driver in future.
He will also be subject to barring conditions forbidding him from working with children or vulnerable people.
