Oxford black cab driver exposed himself to female customer

Zaffran Amjad, 28, had asked to use the toilet at the woman’s home after dropping her off in his hackney cab on July 1 last year.

As he came out of the lavatory, he still had his flies undone and his genitals were exposed. Amjad told the woman: “You want this, right?”

Prosecuting, Ann Sawyer-Brandish told Oxford Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (August 23): “Straightaway she knew what he was doing. She was terrified because he was in her house. She had allowed him in her house and she couldn’t go anywhere.”

READ MORE: Man admits attacking taxi driver with glass bottle

She said he needed to leave, the court heard. The taxi driver ‘did not become aggressive and did not say anything’, but rearranged himself and left.

“She called a friend immediately, describing how it was the worst experience,” the prosecutor said. The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was advised to call the police, which she did.

In an impact statement read to the magistrates, the victim said she had had to move house after the incident as she no longer felt safe in the property where it happened.

She said: “Before this incident, I was a very independent person. The idea of even going out in Oxford on a night out now scares me. I very rarely go out on my own. I can’t think of anything worse than getting a taxi.”

The woman added: “I feel like I’ve just put my life on hold for something I can’t control and I feel so lost because of it. No one should be made to feel this way; especially not in their own home.”

Amjad was identified as the driver of the taxi and, following a trial last month, was convicted by the magistrates of a single charge of indecent exposure. He was previously of good character, with no convictions on his record.

Mitigating, advocate Balaal Khan said his client was married with one child and another on the way. He was the family’s main breadwinner. Since the incident he had been unable to work as a taxi driver and, although working two jobs, the family had suffered a significant hit to their income.

READ MORE: Cyclist killed after crash with lorry

He was a carer for his mother and was well-spoken of in a number of character references provided to the court, it was said. Mr Khan said Amjad ‘wishes to express remorse’ to the victim.

The magistrates imposed 16 weeks’ imprisonment suspended for two years. A sexual harm prevention order prevents him from being employed as a private hire driver or making unwanted sexual advances to women for five years.

Chairman of the bench Dr Bob Mahoney said: “This is a nasty offence. The impact on the victim [from the statement] that was read out by the prosecutor is quite distressing and, clearly, quite profound.”

As a consequence of the suspended prison sentence, Amjad, of Addison Crescent, Oxford, will be on the sex offender register for seven years.

He was ordered to pay £300 in compensation and £654 in costs and surcharge.

Click here to sign up to the Crime and Court newsletter (Image: Newsquest)