Mirror
March 4, 2015
A university student has told of her terrifying taxi ride when a cab driver took her to isolated woodland and sexually assaulted her – then demanded a £50 fare.
Lily Wright, 22, flagged down the taxi with friend Jamielee Smalldon following a night out.
But after dropping 21-year-old Miss Smalldon at her house Mohammed Iqbal, a father of three, drove Miss Wright to secluded woodland and sexually assaulted her.
He then drove her home – and ordered she pay him £50 for the journey.
Miss Wright, who said the encounter left her “paralysed with fear”, has now spoken of her ordeal.
She said: “After what he’d just done to me, I couldn’t believe he had the nerve to charge me.
“I knew it should only cost around £20 and I didn’t have the money but I was desperate to get home. So I told him I did.
“As soon as I saw my house I didn’t wait for him to stop, I opened the car door and fled. I was running for my life.”
Miss Wright, who attends university in Birmingham, where she is from, recounted how she met Jamielee for a night out in March 2012.
After a couple of drinks, the pair took a taxi to a club.
But when they reached the queue, she felt tired so the pair decided to get a cab home.
“I dived in the back while Jamielee sat in the front,” she said.
“As we drove off I rummaged in my bag, I couldn’t find my phone anywhere I’d lost it.
“Jamielee was calm and said the driver could call to let her know when I got home.”
Miss Smalldon was dropped off at her house first.
Miss Wright said: “By the time we reached Jamielee’s house I was nodding off.
“To make sure I was okay she gave the driver her number and asked him to call her when I had safely arrived home. She thought she was looking out for me.
“Jamielee said goodbye then I moved to the front passenger seat so I could give the driver directions to my house.”
The taxi driver drove away in the wrong direction.
Miss Wright said: “Five minutes on, we were on a pitch black, quiet, country road.
“The driver stopped the car, and phoned Jamielee telling her I was home safely. But looking out the window I could see only trees.
“Confused and scared, I sat in silence, no idea why we’d stopped. All I could do was panic.”