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Taxi driver gets one year for raping 16-year-old girl in his cab
Pia Marsh
June 10th, 2015
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This article is more than 9 years old.
One year in prison for 39-year-old driver who raped a teenage girl in his taxi
His fellow taxi drivers won’t be thanking him for the confidence he has instilled in the public about getting a taxi (photo: blu-news.org)
A taxi driver has been sentenced to a year in prison for raping a 16-year-old girl in February this year, just 24 hours after committing indecent exposure in front of a 21-year-old woman .
READ MORE: World leader in gender equality, sexual liberation and … rape
The 39-year-old father, who has been a taxi driver for 16 years, committed the rape on February 28 after picking up the girl in Copenhagen’s city centre as she was making her way home to Virum after a night out.
According to the victim’s statement, the incident occurred in a carpark where she woke up to find the man lying on top of her.
‘Satisfied’ with the punishment
In addition to a year in prison, the 39-year-old man has been deprived of the right to drive a cab for three years.
“It is a satisfactory conviction. He was given a severe punishment in relation to his practice,” senior prosecutor Bente Schnack told Ekstra Bladet.
The standard punishment for rape cases in which the victim is exploited (due to being in a helpless state) is around eight months in prison.
However, prosecutors made note of the fact that the man’s statement contradicted that of the victim’s.
“She had to pee, and when she got back in the car, she suddenly began to touch me on the stomach. I told her that she should know her limits, but she went ahead and put her hand down my pants,” he explained, stating that he first touched the woman on the breasts and then subsequently on the crotch.
Additional charges
Besides rape, the man is also convicted of indecent exposure towards a 21-year-old girl during a taxi ride on the previous day. According to the victim, the taxi driver took advantage of her by running his hand up and down her inner thigh and trying to kiss her.
The 39-year-old has been held in custody for the past 3.5 months.
In a statement to Ekstra Bladet, the taxi driver’s defence lawyer Poul Hauch Fenger said: “Although my client disagrees with the charges laid against him, he recognises that the sentence is reasonable.”
“Now, he is just looking forward to getting his freedom back so he can return home to his children,” Fenger continued.
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