Taxi Driver Kissed an 18-year-old Girl to ‘Comfort Her’
A 34-year-old taxi cab driver who has been accused of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old girl in the back of his car burst into tears, saying that he was only trying to comfort the girl after he snubbed her advances.
Ali Hassan, a private hire taxi driver from Bertrand Road in Bolton explained to the Bolton Crown Court that the teenage girl confessed to him that she “liked black men” before she pushed him up against the door of the car and started kissing him.
Hassan denied that he was the one who initiated and that he did not touch and kiss the girl in the back of his cab.
Hassan’s DNA was found on a swab that was taken from the girl’s neck. He later said to the court that he just kissed the girl’s neck to comfort her.
Michael Maher, the defending attorney, led Hassan through the series of events on the night or the morning the girl got into his cab at Nelson Square.
Hassan recounted to the court that he was off duty that night and was just waiting for a friend. At around 245 am, the teenage girl “begged” him to bring her home.
He told the court that the girl said “I like black people”. He said that when the girl said that, he said, “Can you sit back and put your seat belt on please?”
After he said this to girl, Hassan said that she reacted unpleasantly and said “you are all the same, you are all dogs”.
He then told the jury that the girl started crying and said that he was just trying to comfort her. He also said that he did not want to hurt her and that he felt that it was all his fault.
He claimed that she then pushed him and kissed him on his stomach.
Aside from denying the allegation of assaulting this 18-year-old girl, he also denied an attempted sexual assault to another 18-year-old female that was also his passenger before.
Hailing from Somalia, Hassan has worked in Holland as a truck driver before he moved to the UK and started his taxi driving career in October of 2007. He is currently married to a woman that he has four young children with.