Taxi driver who sexually assaulted woman (18) he was driving home after night out jailed for 5½ years

A taxi driver who repeatedly sexually assaulted a young woman (18) he was driving home from a night out has been jailed for 5½ years.

Naveed Rana (42) told the victim to sit in the front seat before he drove off in the wrong direction and sexually assaulted her, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard on Friday.

Rana, of Ballynakelly Gate, Newcastle, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty to three counts of sexually assaulting the woman in his taxi in Dublin in the early hours of October 11th last year. At the time of the offence, he was on bail for a serious drug offence.

The sexual assault culminated in Rana forcing the woman to masturbate him before he “panicked” when he saw her texting her location to a friend. He then dropped her off. During the incident, the court heard the victim feared for her life.

Sentencing Rana, Judge Elma Sheahan said he had breached his position of trust as a taxi driver and caused significant harm to the victim, whom she described as vulnerable. She noted that while pretending to drive her home, he took wrong turns and drove her away from her destination. “She believed she was going to be killed,” Judge Sheahan said. “She was unable to react other than follow instructions.” It was serious offending “by any measure”, the judge said.

The judge handed down a 5½ year sentence. She declined to suspend any portion of this, given that Rana was on bail for a serious offence when he carried out the attack.

The court heard the woman suffered severe mental health difficulties and was left in “total fear” after the incident. She did not wish to come to court.

In a victim impact statement, read out on her behalf, she said she lives in constant fear of something like this happening again. She said she used to get taxis often but has been too afraid to get into on. “I’m just a young girl; I shouldn’t be in total fear,” she said.

A local Garda detective told barrister Garret McCormack, prosecuting, that the victim was socialising in Dublin city centre on the night in question when she and two of her friends – a man and another woman – tried to order a taxi in the early hours of the morning.

When they weren’t successful, they noticed Rana, who beckoned them over to his taxi. He dropped the man off first before dropping home the victim’s friend, whom the court heard was very intoxicated.

The victim spent some time helping her friend to bed before she returned to Rana, who was still waiting outside in his taxi. He told her to get into the front seat before almost immediately taking a turn away from the woman’s destination.

The man tried to kiss the victim and then started sexually assaulting her while still driving. His driving became erratic, and he parked the car before making her masturbate him.

He then suggested finding somewhere “more dark” to continue, but the woman refused and managed to text her location to a friend. She told Rana she was just sending a Snapchat message to her sister, but he panicked and dropped her off shortly afterwards. The woman took a photo of his taxi as he drove away, which the court heard was crucial to the investigation. She went to gardaí immediately, and Rana was arrested a few weeks later.

Senior counsel Paul Greene, defending, said Rana was considered a “decent person” in the local community and that this incident was out of character for him. He came to Ireland from Pakistan a number of years ago. A letter of apology was handed into court.