LIVERPOOL

Abanezer Befakadu touched passenger’s legs and forcibly kissed one victim so hard she was left with a bruised lip

A Liverpool minicab driver who sexually assaulted three women in his minicab after picking them up was jailed for four years.

Abanezer Befekadu, of Elaine Street, Toxteth, was found guilty after a trial of three separate assaults on female passengers while working for private-hire firms on Merseyside.

In one of the incidents – which all took place within the space of three months last year – the 26-year-old attacker forcibly kissed his victim so hard he bruised her lip and touched her leg after pulling over, leaving her anxious about meeting men, and feeling they may have a sexual agenda.
The first assault took place in the city centre last August, when the taxi driver picked up a woman in her 40s and began asking her inappropriate questions.

She told him to stop the taxi at which point he touched her leg.

A hysterical phone call she made to police was played to the jury during the trial.

In the second assault, in September last year, Befekadu picked up a 17-year-old girl and her friend and again began asking her inappropriate questions, before touching his victim’s leg and pulling her close to him after stopping in Bootle.

The third victim, a woman in her 20s, got into Befekadu’s cab in the city centre with a friend in October last year for a journey to North Wales.

After the first woman was dropped off, the minicab driver again began asking his victim inappropriate questions about boyfriends. He then pulled over on a street in Drury, Flintshire, before leaning over and forcibly kissing her, leaving a bruise on her lip.

In a victim impact statement she said she was left feeling anxious about meeting men and said she could no longer take them at face value.

At Liverpool crown court, Judge Robert Trevor-Jones jailed Befekadu for 12 months consecutively for each of the first two assaults, and two years consecutively for the third.
He was also put on the Sex Offender’s Register indefinitely and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £120.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/

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EDINBURGH


TAXI drivers who post footage from in-car security cameras set to be approved by the council online would lose their licence, they have been warned.

Councillors are set to give the final sign-off on Monday for cameras aimed at catching abusive and violent passengers.

Unaffiliated “street cars” are expected to embrace the devices, with more than 200 of the cabs operating in the Capital. However, fears have been raised over cabbies falling foul of data protection laws, with some calling for recorded video to be held by police or council officials.

All black cab and private hire drivers will be able to ask licensing authorities for the right to place cameras in their cars, although individual cabbies will have to meet the cost of equipment and installation.

Under guidelines drawn up by city licensing officials, drivers will have responsibility for keeping any filmed images secure, running the risk of a fine or having their cab licence suspended if they breach the Data Protection Act.

Drivers have been warned by the council not to place any images from their recordings on social media as “a condition of licence”.

Anyone found placing images online faces having their cab licence suspended, and would face a struggle to have the licence renewed after any suspension.

Any cabbie investigated by the Information Commissioner and found to have breached the Data Protection Act could face a fine of up to £500,000.

Tony Kenmuir, director of Central Taxis, said the cameras would be most popular with street car drivers, who do not take bookings and don’t have the support of a dispatch office.

He said: “The question has never been answered about whether the data should be collected by the police or the council, and who would pay for that.

“For me, we would be prepared to manage that as a company and follow any guidelines we were given for the collection and destruction of the data, but I’ve always been of the view that it should be in the hands of the police or the council.”

Philip Capaldi, a veteran Edinburgh cabbie with 32 years’ experience in the trade, said: “If it was in my cab it would only ever be used if the police needed to view evidence.”

Councillor Gavin Barrie, convener of the regulatory committee, said: “Any footage taken would be held by the taxi operators under the terms of the Data Protection Act. It cannot be made public and would only be reviewed by the council, Police Scotland or the Cab Inspector in the event of an alleged incident.

“If anything was released into the public domain, that would become the subject of a report to the committee. I would suggest that the ­committee would take an extremely dim view of it.”

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TAXI fares in Edinburgh are to go up from the start of next year.

However, a draft report on fare increases shows controversial late night "party tariff" plans are to be abandoned after concerns it could deter people from taking a cab to get home safely.

The inflation-busting 2.1 per cent general fare increase to rates, set by Edinburgh City Council, will take a two-mile taxi journey after 10pm to £6.60, nearly 20p above the current Scottish average for the same journey.

After 6pm at Christmas 2015 and New Year fares for journeys under half a mile rise from £3.10 to £3.50, but the most expensive Festive night-time tariff of £4.10 is removed.

A standard rate fare stays at £2.10 but that will get travellers a shorter distance.

The party tariff has been abandoned after protests, including from Lothian MSP Kezia Dugdale, who urged a rethink of the scheme.

The candidate for the deputy labour leadership said earlier she had made direct representations on the issue and the axing of the plans would be welcomed.

The report claimed the research showed "62.2% per cent of the public are currently happy with fares".

"However, the figure dips slightly for journeys after 6pm.

"Research indicated the public would not support higher evening fares, even if this increased the availability of taxis."

It said it is not supported by the trade and added "it is, therefore, proposed the increase in fares between 12am and 5am is not approved".

Tony Kenmuir, of Central Radio Taxis, said drivers were content with an increase that would cover expenses, such as fuel increases.

He said: "Our recommendation to the council has been very much that they make small increments. When you take in costs of parts and costs of fuel and other things it is not a rise in real terms. We are quite satisfied to have a modest increase."

Cameron Rose, Edinburgh Tory group leader, said: "People looking for taxis will welcome the rejection of another fare tariff after midnight.

"It keeps things simple and avoiding a fare rise for late night journeys is good news for users.

"But the rate for after midnight should be kept under review because taxi drivers need an incentive to work the anti-social hours after midnight."

The council paid consultants Halcrow £17,000 to conduct research on fares increases, including the party tariff as "Objective One". It carried out 507 surveys across Edinburgh.

Halcrow's report said "discussion with the trade identified they did not feel the need to introduce at this time". It added: "The trade are very aware of the economic situation and did not wish to pursue this during this fare review".

The draft Halcrow report to go before councillors at the regulatory committee next week said: "The majority of authorities have two tariffs - one for day time and one for night time and these apply across the whole week.

The report adds: "The time that the night-time tariff applies does vary with the earliest commencing at 6pm and the latest at 11pm. Dundee, Glasgow and Birmingham have introduced a separate night time tariff for weekends.

"Edinburgh's night-time tariff commences the earliest of all benchmarked authorities.

"Most of the benchmarked authorities night time tariff commences after 7pm. However in Edinburgh it is our understanding 6pm is also when the night-time shift drivers commence."

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/transport/capital-taxi-fares-to-rise-in-new-year.25855929?utm_source=www.heraldscotland.com&utm_medium=RSS%20Feed&utm_campaign=Scottish%20News

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CHORLEY


A taxi driver who foiled a drunken dangerous driver by snatching keys from the ignition has been commended by a judge.

The cabbie had seen defendant Dean Gallagher, 29, driving a stolen Peugeot Partner van erratically on Preston Road, Clayton le Woods, near Chorley.

The concerned driver followed it onto Buckshaw Hall Lane where it stopped.

He then approached the van and snatched the keys from the ignition.

The van had earlier been stolen from Tootell Street, Chorley.

Recorder Howard Bentham QC, sitting at Preston Crown Court, praised the cabbie for his bravery during Gallagher’s sentencing hearing.

The court heard how in a separate incident, on March 21, Gallagher robbed a lone 15-year-old girl of her mobile phone as she walked down Pilling Lane, Chorley, just before midnight.

He used the phone to call a taxi, then hit her in the stomach and threatened to “kick her head in”.
Layer as he was arrested he ran at a police officer and spat in his face.

The judge sentenced Gallagher, of Batty Street, Manchester, to a total of three years after he pleaded guilty to robbery, assaulting an officer, aggravated vehicle taking, dangerous driving, driving without insurance or a licence, and drink driving.

He was also banned for five years.

DC Andrew Woodward, of South CID, said: “The robbery has had a big effect on the victim and her family.

“His guilty plea avoided her having to go to court.

http://www.lep.co.uk/news/local/chorley-man-jailed-over-aggravated-van-theft-and-robbing-15-year-old-girl-1-6952473