Non-White Taxi Driver Caged for Groping Vulnerable Passengers

Kent News
September 8, 2014

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Rezgar Hassan has been jailed after sexually assaulting two vulnerable female passengers.

A Dover taxi driver who sexually assaulted two teenage women who had been out in the town has been jailed.

Rezgar Hassan, 22, of High Street in Dover, was found guilty by a jury of two counts of sexual assault and sentenced to three years imprisonment. Hassan, also received a five-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order and will be on the Sex Offenders’ Register indefinitely. He has also been recommended for deportation.

Canterbury Crown Court heard in the early hours of January 27 2013, Hassan was driving a taxi in Market Square when he accepted a fare from a 19-year-old woman and her two friends.

The victim sat in the front seat of the taxi and during the course of the journey, felt Hassan put his hand on her leg. It was then that he inappropriately touched her. When she got out of the taxi, the victim told her friends and the following day she reported it to police.

Hassan was arrested and he was later picked out in identity parade.

In the second incident, in the early hours of March 10 2013, Hassan picked up a 17-year-old girl who was waiting at the train station at Dover Priory. He approached the teenager, offering her a lift home to Folkestone for free. He told her she needed to sit in the back seat with a cover over her as he had another passenger to collect. Once that person had been dropped off, she got in the front seat.

Hassan told her to recline her seat and then started asking intimate questions. He told her if she showed him her breasts, he would let her go. He then pulled her top down and inappropriately touched her before allowing the girl to get out.

Investigating officer, PC Natasha Russell of Kent Police, said: “It was clear when investigating these two individual reports that Hassan had preyed on his young victims, taking full advantage of their vulnerability.

“After having been on a night out in the town, both victims did the right thing by getting a taxi home. They expected the taxi to be a place of safety, but instead Hassan took full advantage of his position.

“I would like to personally thank both victims for showing courage and bravery and coming forward to report what had happened to them. The sentencing reflects the seriousness of the crime and should serve as a warning that neither Kent Police nor the courts will accept this type of behaviour.”

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Canterbury Crown Court sentenced him to 3 years imprisonment and recommended him for deportation.