May 12, 2008
Taxi driver cleared over kidnap and sexual assault
A TAXI driver has walked free from court after being cleared of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a customer.
Mohammed Saddique was acquitted by a Teesside Crown Court jury after they deliberated for just ten minutes.
It was alleged that Mr Saddique held the woman against her will in his car for an hour and touched her breasts on three occasions.
The married father-of-two was said to have carried out the attacks after picking up the 23-year-old and a friend last September.
Mr Saddique dropped the other woman off at her home in Billingham and drove the alleged victim to nearby Seaton Carew and Hartlepool.
During a four-day trial, the woman told the jury she asked to be taken home but was driven around for an hour and left terrified.
Mr Saddique maintained that it was the woman who asked him to take her for a drive to the seaside, and he denied groping her.
The 29-year-old, who worked for Billingham-based Binks Taxis, picked up the two friends after a night out in Middlesbrough some time after 2.30am on September 18.
He denied he locked the doors of his cab, and refuted claims he had said when the alleged victim got in the car: "I hear you are up for anything."
The driver, who came to the UK from Pakistan eight years ago, said he had never heard the phrase until he read her statement.
Mr Saddique, of Crescent Road, Middlesbrough, denied kidnap and three charges of sexual touching.
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