WORTHING

A MAN has been arrested in connection with a rape.

Officers are investigating an incident in which it is alleged a woman was raped at her home in Worthing by a taxi driver who had given her a lift home. 

Now Sussex Police have revealed a man has been arrested in connection with the incident. 

A spokesman said: “Following an intensive investigation, and information from the public, officers went to an address in Newhaven on New Year’s Eve and arrested a 37-year-old man on suspicion of rape. 

“He is currently in custody for interview and further enquiries. 

“The victim is continuing to be supported by specially trained officers.” 

The 31-year-old woman took a taxi home at about 1.30am on Friday, December 20, after drinking with colleagues in Brighton. 
She was picked up in Western Road, near the junction with Queen’s Square. 

Police said it was believed the car had green and white door panels. 

The force has said the woman’s friends organised for her to take a taxi home “due to her level of intoxication”. 

She was then taken to her home in Worthing where it is reported that the driver raped her. 

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PORTSMOUTH
A taxi driver chased after three women and blasted them in the face with pepper spray "to make a point" after they bunked their £7 fare.
Narcisse Assicome, 47, lost his temper after the getaway customers offered him £1 before fleeing his car without paying the charge in Portsmouth, Hampshire.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard the women had no intention of paying and Assicome had carried out his actions "to make a point that they shouldn't behave in that way".
He armed himself with one of two cans of illegally-owned pepper spray - which he kept in his taxi for "self-defence" - and gave chase after Tia Simmons, Jessica Kubiak and their friend fled.
The father-of-four first doused Ms Simmons in the face and then attacked Ms Kubiak before returning to Ms Simmons and spraying her a further two times in the face 

It was heard Assicome's victims were left terrified, with Ms Simmons fearing she was 'going blind' following the attack in Portsmouth, Hants.


The court heard Assicome had been on duty in the early hours of November 4, 2018, when he received a call to pick up three women in the city and take them to a nearby pub.
Prosecutor Jeffrey Lamb said: "[Ms Simmons] had a hand over her face and was screaming. She thought she was going blind.
"She could not open her eyes to see. Her face and her eyes were burning.
"Struggling and with the aid of Siri on her mobile phone she managed to telephone her mother and her father arrived to collect her and took her to Queen Alexandra Hospital."
The effects of the spray lasted for about a day, leaving no lasting physical damage, Mr Lamb said. 
He added Ms Kubiak had admitted not having the money for the fare and said: "She planned on paying the £1 and running off."
When questioned by police about the attack, Assicome, Wymering in Portsmouth, admitted losing his temper.
Mr Lamb said: "This, he said, annoyed him and said he didn't have time for this nonsense and the thought came to 'spray, spray spray'."
Assicome admitted two counts of unlawfully and maliciously administering pepper spray and a further charge of possessing two cans of it.
Defending, Daniel Reilly said the incident came at the end of a 'particularly difficult week' in which Assicome had been threatened by another customer with a knife.
Mr Reilly told the court the pepper spray attack would never have happened had the victims not taken the "deliberate decision" to "make off without payment".
He said: "While his intention was not to cause any harm he wanted to make a point that they shouldn't be able to behave in that way.
"He accepts that it was not an acceptable way of dealing with it and he is sorry for his actions."
Judge William Ashworth sentenced Assicome to six months in jail, suspended for a year, and ordered him to complete 150 hours unpaid work and pay £50 compensation to each victim.
Assicome has since had his taxi licence revoked by Portsmouth City Council.

After the hearing, Nickii Humphreys, the council's licensing manager, said the council took immediate action.
She said: "As soon as we were alerted to the incident with Mr Assicome, we revoked his private hire driver's licence 


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