Asif Hussain 46

Description

A taxi driver subjected a young woman to a terrifying sex attack in her own street after he found her outside a takeaway and asked if she needed a cab home. The victim had been on a night out with friends in Ashby town centre when Asif Hussain struck.

The 23 year old victim said she thought she was "going to be raped" by her 44-year-old attacker, who was jailed for 15 months by Derby Crown Court. Hussain, whose cab was registered with Leicester City Council, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault on the day of his planned trial.

The sentencing hearing was told Hussain left his victim "hysterical from sobbing" and hyperventilating from shock and fear after the attack in November 2019, report DerbyshireLive. Mark Achurch, prosecuting, said Hussain had agree of a fee of 20 after seeing his victim standing outside a takeaway and had asked if she need a cab home.

He then dropped off one of the woman's friends in Derby before driving to the victim's home, near Swadlincote. It was just as she was about to leave the vehicle that Hussain struck.

Mr Achurch said: "She went to leave the vehicle and he forcibly grabbed her by the face."

He added: "She was saying 'no' on several occasions and described him making 'sexual moans' while he continued while she was frozen in fear. She opened the door and ran into her home where he mother described her as being 'hysterical from sobbing, hyperventilating' and she told her mother he tried to rape her."

Mr Achurch said DNA from the victim's clothing was linked to the defendant and to his red Toyota Prius. A victim impact statement was read out in court in which the young woman said she "no longer feels safe on my own street" as a result of her ordeal at Hussain's hands.

Handing down his sentence to the married father-of-one for 15 months, Judge Shaun Smith QC said: "This is about a 23-year-old woman who got into a (then) 41-year-old man's taxi and trusted that taxi driver to take her home, be polite, take her money and go to another job. The public are entitled to know that when they get into a taxi they will not be assaulted in this or any other way and the public must be protected.

The judge added: "She thought she was going to be raped or seriously hurt and felt effectively powerless, she said and that's because you wanted to satisfy your own sexual desires. I would be failing in my public duty if I did not send you to prison."

Hussain, of Vicarage Road, in Sandwell, West Midlands, has no previous convictions or cautions, the court was told. In mitigation, Mohammed Latif, representing the defendant, said that his client had since been disowned by his former wife, who he had been with for almost two decades - but was now remarried and has a nine-month old infant with his new partner.

"He has disgraced himself in his community, among his work colleagues and within his own family," said Mr Latif. "It is plain that the defendant feels completely embarrassed by his conduct, fully accepts his responsibility for it and the impact it has had on her."

Hussain stopped working as a taxi driver after his arrest and was instead a delivery driver, added Mr Latif. Judge Smith also ordered Hussain to be placed on the sex offender register for a period of 10 years.