“Afzal preyed on this female passenger in his minicab"
Uber driver Nadeem Afzal, aged 51, of Chigwell, Essex, received a suspended sentence after he exposed himself to a female passenger.
Kingston Crown Court heard he exposed himself and asked the woman to perform sex acts on him.
The victim used her phone to make an audio recording of Afzal’s demands, which was later used as evidence against him.
The woman, aged in her early 20s, had been out in north London on the night of October 31, 2018. In the early hours of the next morning, she booked an Uber and Afzal arrived to pick her up.
Afzal deliberately took a longer route with the passenger.
Twenty minutes into the journey, Afzal exposed himself to the victim and asked her several times to touch him intimately, which she refused.
As she rejected his advances, she recorded the conversation.
After nearly two hours in what was supposed to have been a 40-minute journey, the victim was dropped at a takeaway near her home in south-west London.
Once she was home, she called the police and an investigation was launched.
Afzal was identified and was charged on August 19, 2019, with one count of exposure. He first appeared at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court on September 17, 2019.
Sergeant Jonny Harris, of the Met’s Roads and Transport Command, said:
“Afzal preyed on this female passenger in his minicab and was extremely persistent in his sexual advances and behaviour, leaving the passenger feeling scared and vulnerable.
“The victim showed courage coming forward to police and reporting Afzal, who is now a registered sex offender and can no longer work as a cab driver.”
At a hearing on November 6, 2019, the Uber driver pleaded guilty to one charge of exposure contrary to the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
Mandy McGregor, Transport for London’s Head of Transport Policing and Community Safety, said:
“Nobody should ever be subjected to this kind of revolting and predatory behaviour and we are pleased to hear that Afzal has been brought to justice for his actions.
“We applaud the bravery of the victim for coming forward.
“We expect the highest standards from TfL licensed taxi and private hire drivers, which is why Afzal is no longer a licensed driver.
“We take every report seriously so it can be investigated by the police.”
On January 2, 2020, Nadeem Afzal received a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.
He must also sign the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and was made subject to a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
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