STV NewsFive male councillors on the Highlands licensing committee voted to allow a rapist to keep driving taxis one month after he attacked a teenage passenger.
David Brown, 50, from Croy, raped the 18-year-old female in a layby in December 2023 after picking her up after a night out in Inverness.
He then dumped her in Dingwall on a freezing cold night.
Alan SimpsonHe had his taxi driver’s licence suspended in January 2024 after details of his crime emerged.
But five men on the Highland Council committee argued that Brown was a “fit and proper person to hold a licence”.
According to the minutes of the meeting on January 9, 2024, councillor Drew Millar put forward the motion for Brown to keep driving taxis.
His amendment was seconded by Sean Kennedy and supported by John Bruce, John Grafton, and Duncan MacPherson.
Six other members of the committee voted in favour of suspending Brown’s licence – meaning it was just one vote that prevented the predator from continuing to pick up passengers as he awaited trial.
Highland CouncilThe committee heard from Police Scotland and Brown himself.
The revelation comes after four councillors who voted in favour of Brown’s taxi operator licence continuing in his name last month resigned following public backlash.
Last week, Highland Council said the decision had been temporarily halted and will be reviewed by the full council.
The four women on the committee voted against the motion, and the six men voted in favour.
Chairman councillor Kennedy, councillor MacPherson, councillor Grafton, and Willie Mackay all quit in the face of outrage.
SNP councillor Chris Birt told STV News he would not make any announcement until his return from a trip abroad.
But he was suspended by his party on Tuesday.
Highland CouncilThe sixth male committee member, Conservative group leader Ruraidh Stewart, has said nothing publicly about the issue.
In May this year, Brown was sentenced to six years and nine months imprisonment for the rape.
A protest outside the council’s Inverness headquarters is being planned and a petition calling for Brown’s taxi operator’s licence to be revoked has almost 4,000 signatures.
Skye, Lochaber and Lochalsh LibDem MSP Andrew Baxter, a former Highland councillor, wants a life ban on convicted rapists seeking either a taxi driver’s licence or operator’s licence.
Romy Rehfeld, chief executive of the Rape and Sexual Abuse Service Highland (RASASH), said her organisation’s thoughts are with the survivor and her family.
“Decisions like this can cause additional stress to survivors and force them to relive their trauma,” she said.
RASASH can be contacted by calling 03330 066 909 or texting 07451 288 080 or via email at support@rasash.org.uk
The national Rape Crisis Scotland helpline is 08088 010 302.
Follow STV News on WhatsApp
Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
