A taxi driver who tried to bribe and pay off one of two teenagers he’d sexually assaulted has been jailed.
Zaheer Hussain, aged 45, was convicted in February this year of assaulting two young women who had been passengers in his taxi.
Unbeknown to jurors, he had earlier pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice for trying to sabotage the case against him.
After finding out the phone number of a key witness, Hussain attempted to bribe her and the victim with £6,000 each to change their accounts.
Not only was this illegal approach rejected, but it was also recorded and later passed on to the police.
Detectives later retrieved CCTV footage showing a man matching Hussain’s description waiting over a number of days the exact location he’d suggested for a meeting.
Hussain first came to police attention after assaulting a young woman on 23 April 2022.
After picking her up from Nottingham City Centre, he offered her a cigarette before placing his hand up her skirt and stroking the inside of her thigh.
After being identified from CCTV footage, he was interviewed under caution and later released.
Seemingly unmoved by the police attention, Hussain continued to drive his taxi and struck again around eight months later.
On that occasion he began by asking his victim a series of highly inappropriate sexual questions, before pulling over and subjecting her to even more serious assaults.
After pleading not guilty to all the charges against him, Hussain was convicted in February after a retrial at Nottingham Crown Court of three counts of sexual assault and one count of assault by penetration.
He was cleared of another count of sexual assault against a third young woman.
During his trial, Hussain claimed that his victims – who were both sat in the front seat as he assaulted them but had no prior knowledge of each other – were making up the allegations against him.
When confronted with damning DNA evidence proving sexual contact with the second victim, he had initially claimed the victim had actually made a sexual advance towards him.
Appearing at the same venue today (Friday) Hussain, formerly of Wilford Crescent East, was given an extended 16 year sentence – 11 years to be served in custody and five on extended license.
He was also handed a restraining order banning further contact with his victims.
He was, his counsel said, remorseful for what had happened, and also regretted his decision to put his victims through a crown court trial.
Detective Constable Rachael Flitton, of Nottinghamshire Police, said:
“This was predatory and calculating behaviour from a man who appeared to believe he could do what he liked to these young women without any consequences.
“Even after his earlier interaction with the police, he upped the level of his offending and subjected another young woman to an even more serious sexual assaults.
“His victims were extremely vulnerable when they had the misfortune to find themselves alone in Hussain’s taxi.
“After trusting him to get them home safely, he abused that trust in a way I know will horrify his hard-working fellow drivers.
“His earlier suggestion that two strangers with no prior knowledge of each other would make very similar but false allegations was always remote.
“But Hussain’s claim that his second victim actually made advances towards him was little short of fanciful.
“As he begins this very significant jail sentence, I would like to place on record my thanks to those victims for the determination and bravery they have shown in order to bring this man to justice and safeguard other potential victims.”
