NOT GUILTY VERDICT: Mohamed Ayaz outside Hull Crown Court
A Hull minicab driver has been asked by a judge to quit his job after he was acquitted for the second time of sexually assaulting his passengers.
Mohamed Ayaz, 33, was found not guilty by a jury at Hull Crown Court of orally raping an 18-year-old woman he had picked up as a passenger.
Throughout the four-day trial, Mr Ayaz said the woman had consented and had lied to police because she was unhappy about paying the fare.
The jury spent about two hours deliberating before acquitting him.
After delivering the verdict, they were told Mr Ayas had stood trial in March last year, accused of putting his hand up a 20-year-old passenger’s skirt. He was also cleared of this offence.
Ordering Mr Ayaz to leave the dock, Judge Michael Mettyear said: “This is now the second time a jury has acquitted you of sexual contact with a woman in a minicab.
“I ask you to give up the work you are doing. It is clear you are not suitable.
“Now go.”
The jury was not told of the previous allegation, which he was accused of in December 2011, because it was not offered as evidence by the Crown Prosecution Service during the trial.
The woman in the latest accusation, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was in court for the verdict and sobbed when it was read out.
During the trial, the jury watched a video of her giving evidence to police, which was made on the same night of the alleged oral rape.
She described how she had been upset because it was the anniversary of a relative’s death when Mr Ayaz, who worked for 57 Cars in Witham, east Hull, picked her up from Spiders nightclub in Cleveland Street.
She said she was crying and telling him about her relative and Mr Ayaz started to rub her back to console her.
But the taxi driver said she had her head on his shoulder and her hand on his thigh.
She said he drove past her boyfriend’s, where she wanted to be dropped off, and pulled into a lay-by before trying to kiss her. She resisted and he drove away. But she was not wearing a seatbelt so asked him to stop again to let her put it on.
The woman claimed he assaulted her when he pulled over.
She said: “He pulled up, he undid my seatbelt and tried to undo my coat. I told him no.”
At about 4.15am, Mr Ayaz dropped off the woman and she called the minicab firm to complain immediately.
The operator told her to call the police, which she did, and an officer was sent to her boyfriend’s house.
DNA samples taken from her matched that of Mr Ayaz.
Mr Ayaz said he had accidentally driven past the address and when the woman told him he had gone the wrong way, he turned around and pulled into a lay-by.
He said it was then they started kissing, which progressed.
Judge Mettyear warned Mr Ayaz: “Should you get in trouble again, it is inevitable your previous acquittals will get mentioned.”
No one at the taxi firm was available to comment.
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