...SHAME SHAME
EXETER DRIVER WHO RAPED GIRL CAUGHT AFTER SNAPCHAT CONVERSATION ALERTED FRIEND
A judge has praised the courage of a young rape victim who used a Snap- chat conversation to alert a friend to her ordeal. According to Devon- Live, taxi driver John Smith groomed the girl with gradually increasing abuse before forcing her to have full sex in December last year. She was too fright- ened to tell anyone in authority what he was doing but con- fided in a school- friend on Snapchat shortly after
the
final assault. The girl told her friend she was scared of going to the police but they agreed that
the
friend would con- tact them.
It en- abled forensic ex-
perts to find conclu- sive evidence of the rape. Smith, 49, formerly of Exeter and Tiver- ton but now living in Basingstoke, admit- ted two counts of rape, two of assault by penetration and three of
sexual
assault. He was jailed for nine years and eight months by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court. He was put on the sex offenders regis- ter for life and made the subject of a sex- ual harm prevention order for 25 years. The judge told him: “She was scared to say anything to any- one in authority and worried about tell- ing anyone what you were doing. “I have read her vic-
tim personal state- ment. It is clear the impact on her of your abuse has been serious and she is struggling. She is facing the prospect of months of thera- peutic work. “No sentence that I can pass can ever repair the harm that you have done. She was vulnerable be- cause of her age and
you have
caused significant psychological dam- age. You seem to
NOTTINGHAM DRIVER HIT CUSTOMER WHO TRIED TO PAY HIM
A taxi driver used a tyre brace to hit a customer who was having trouble get- ting money from a cash machine. According to the Nottingham Post, Mohammed Satter’s attack was partly caught on camera and shown in court before he was ordered to do 120 hours’ community work. The assault
took
place after the vic- tim downed ten pints at a stag week- end and decided to
return to the Pre- mier Inn. He was left badly bruised after being hit on the right leg, knees and hip. The garage’s CCTV showed Cat- ter taking the tyre iron from the boot of the taxi, Nottingham Crown Court heard. The judge also im- posed a four-month prison
sentence,
suspended for a year, on Satter, 52, from Nottingham. She told him: “He may have been, because he was drunk, not behaving
OCTOBER 2019
as acceptably as he might
otherwise
have been. “But as a taxi driver, it must be some- thing you are used to. There can’t be any excuse for your actions and you accept that. This is clearly a serious assault. The fact that you got out this iron and used it is the main importance.” Satter pleaded guil- ty to assault by beating and having an offensive wea- pon, a tyre iron, on March 23.
have little under- standing of
the
effect on her. “I would like to com- mend the girl for her courage and com- mend her
friend John Smith
who had the good sense to report the matter to the police immediately,
en-
abling them to secure the scientific
evidence which gave you no option but to plead guilty.” Mr Jason Beal, pros- ecuting, said the abuse began with touching
over
clothes and grew more serious over the next two years. It ended with an assault in December 2018 when he raped
the girl. Her ordeal only finished when he said ‘I better stop or I will make you pregnant’. The police were called by a friend after a Snapchat conversation with the victim, who then made a full state- ment detailing the earlier abuse.
BOLTON DRIVER ALLEGEDLY KISSED PASSENGER
A PHV driver has lost his licence after he was accused of sexually assaulting a passenger. According to the MEN,
allegations
that he kissed the passenger and ask- ed, “would you like me to take you to bed”, were made to the police in July 2017 but the victim decided not to pur-
sue the matter any further. The allegations re- surfaced when the cabbie applied to renew his licence. He failed to attend hearings on July 16 and August 20. He had been informed after the first meet- ing that his ap- plication may be determined in his absence if he failed
to attend the re- arranged meeting. Councillors on the licensing sub-com- mittee refused to renew his PH licence at a town hall hear- ing last month. They were not satis- fied that the ap- plicant is a fit and proper person to hold a licence, ac- cording to minutes from that meeting.
YEOVIL CABBIE ATTACKED MAN AND HIS FIANCÉE OVER FARE DISPUTE
A cab driver assault- ed a man and his fiancée during a dis- pute over a fare in Yeovil
in January.
SomersetLive reports that Nicholae Paun- escu asked for the fare up front from the couple who said their
friend, who
made the booking, had arranged to pay him on arrival. The driver refused to embark on the jour- ney without pre-
payment and follow- ing a disagreement inside the vehicle the defendant claimed he was sworn at and called “stupid”. When the couple exited the car the male slammed the door and the defen- dant put his hand over his face and shoved him back- wards. When his fiancée tried to inter- vene Paunescu grab- bed her by the
throat area, pushing her backwards where she narrowly missed hitting a telegraph pole. Paunescu, 44, from Yeovil, was found guilty of assaulting Simon Bishop and Katie Tilley by beat- ing them. Paunescu was fined £150 for each assault and ordered to pay the trial costs of £775 and a £30 vic- tim surcharge.
75
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96
