PRIVATE HIRE DRIVER CONVICTED OF SEXUAL ASSAULT OF A MINOR
A private hire taxi driver sexually assaulted a vulnerable teenage girl after stopping at a quiet supermarket car park.Farrukh Naseem Butt parked his silver Volkswagen in the parking area and subjected the 14-year-old girl, who appeared frightened, to sexual misconduct while driving her home in the early hours of 16 February last year.
Butt, aged 45 and from East Kilbride, Glasgow, touched the girl’s thigh and then leaned in to kiss her on the cheek and lips, with his tongue entering her mouth.
The driver continued the journey during which he placed his hand inside her jogging bottoms, touching her genitals beneath her clothing.
During a trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court this week, it was stated that the teenager has since been left traumatized and afraid to leave her house because of the attack.
Butt denied all charges.
However, following a two-day trial ending on June 11, he was convicted by a jury.
The young girl testified that Butt had given her his mobile number four days before the incident, after being booked through his company.
She contacted him later, asking to be picked up from her friend's house in Edinburgh to be taken to her home in Midlothian at around 4.30am on 16 February.
She said Butt instructed her to sit in the front seat and asked if he could stop for a cigarette.
He then pulled into the car park of a Sainsbury’s supermarket near Hillend in Edinburgh, placed his hand on her thigh, and leaned over to kiss her on both her cheek and lips.
She said: “He kissed me on the cheek and then snogged me.
He put his tongue in my mouth – I told him to stop.
I didn’t feel comfortable.” The victim said when Butt continued the journey he had placed his hand down the front of her jogging pants and touched her vagina.
A 16-year-old friend told the trial the victim contacted her the following day and she “seemed traumatised and worried” before confessing what had happened to her.
The witness said: “She was scared and didn’t really know what to do.
“She was scared to leave the house, scared to go about.
She didn’t really want to tell her mum.” The friend said since the attack her friend “doesn’t go out in the dark” and “stays close to home these days”.
In his testimony, Butt stated that he had been a private hire taxi driver for 18 years and admitted to giving his mobile number to the girl the previous week.
He explained that he pulled into the supermarket car park because his car was overheating.
He added that while he was topping up the water in the engine, the girl voluntarily moved into the front seat, citing comfort as her reason.
During the cross-examination, prosecutor Corey Laouadi strongly denied any sexual assault by Butt.
He proclaimed, "I never touched her, it never happened like that." The jury deliberated for about 90 minutes before returning a majority verdict of guilt.
Sheriff Douglas Keir commented that the offence was very serious and noted that all sentencing options remain open to the court.
Butt has been placed on the sex offenders register on an interim basis, with sentencing delayed until next month for report preparation.
