‘HORRIFIC ORDEAL’: Oxford taxi driver jailed for ten years following teenage passenger rape
A man who worked as a licensed taxi driver in Oxford has been jailed for ten years after he was found guilty of raping a woman who was a passenger in his taxi.
Asif Khan, 37, was charged via a postal requisition on 3 April 2020 with one count of rape.
Following a trial lasting 11 days at Oxford Crown Court, he was found guilty of rape by unanimous jury verdict and was jailed.
Between 2am and 4am on 19 August 2017, Khan was working as a taxi driver in the city when he collected the victim, a woman aged in her late teens, from the Atik nightclub in Oxford.
Khan drove the victim back to her home address where he helped her into her address.
Once inside the victim’s house, Khan picked the victim up, dragged her onto a bed and raped her.
The victim awoke the following day and found a number of condom wrappers in the bin along with a Bluetooth headset which belonged to Khan.
Khan was identified through ANPR enquiries to identify his taxi.
He denied the offence in interviews, but forensic examination of the headset as well as one of the condom wrappers identified Khan as the offender.
In further interviews, Khan continued to deny the offence, stating that his headset must have been stolen.
Investigating officer Detective Constable Josie Cassidy of Oxford CID said: “Khan was in a trusted occupation as licensed taxi driver in Oxford, and the victim should quite rightly have trusted him to get her to destination safely.
“However, Khan completely abused this trust, and raped his victim who was alone and therefore extremely vulnerable.
“This type of behaviour is utterly abhorrent, and when you consider the context of Khan’s job, it was a horrific ordeal for the victim in this case.
“The investigation was a lengthy one, and I would like to pay tribute to the victim for her courage and dignity while she had to re-live her ordeal in court while Khan denied the offence.
“He will now serve a lengthy prison sentence and will be on the sex offenders register for life, and clearly will never be able to serve as a licensed taxi driver again.
“Incidents of this nature are extremely rare and although very distressing for the victim, I hope that this sentence will bring some solace to the victim and also to the local community that we will always thoroughly investigate such offences, believe victims, and bring offenders before the courts.
“I would also like to reassure the community that we work closely with the Taxi Licensing Team at Oxford City Council to make sure that all those driving a taxi in Oxford have been appropriately vetted, the necessary checks made and ongoing awareness training is delivered.”
