SNS GroupA taxi driver who sexually assaulted a teenager in his car has been jailed for 21 months.
Adil Taj, 42, attacked the 17 year-old who thought she was being kidnapped on a journey from Glasgow city centre on September 6, 2019.
Taj scared the girl when he asked to kiss her, stopped the car and climbed into the back seat.
He also touched a 21-year-old Spanish student innapropriately after she rented a room from him at his flat in the city’s Springburn also in September 2019.
Taj was found guilty by a jury to two charges of sexual assault after a trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Friday.
Sheriff Joan Kerr also put Taj on the sex offenders register for ten years.
The court heard Taj told the first victim he could take her home in his taxi after she missed her train from Glasgow Central at midnight.
She said: “He looked at the mirror in the front of the car and said that I was a pretty girl.
“He asked me to kiss him, I was scared, I thought he was going to kidnap me.
“He stopped the car and came into the back and unzipped his trousers.”
The girl then stated Taj grabbed her hand and made her perform a sex act on him before driving her home.
She said: “I was crying in my room…I went to the police station the next day.”
The second woman rented a room from Taj on AirBnB when she was 19.
She said: “I told him I was stressed and my hands were hurting as I was working as a waitress in a restaurant.
“He took my hands and massaged them and I thought it was really awkward.
“I took my hand away…I told him I was going back to bed and he said he wish he could kiss me – I was shocked.
“I told him I had a boyfriend and I wasn’t interested in old men.”
The woman said she kept looking at her bank balance online to see if she could afford to move to another AirBnB.
She claimed she was called into the kitchen by Taj the next night while she wore her pyjamas.
The woman said: “When I turned my back to go to my room, he slapped me on my bum.”
Kevin Corr, defending, said that Taj maintains his innocence and is still supported by his partner.
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