A HAMPTON PARK taxi driver who groped a woman’s breasts while her four-year-old daughter was in the back seat may have blown his chances of getting permanent residency.
Cabbie Singh (not disclosing original name), 26, pleaded guilty at the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday to charges of indecent assault and committing an indecent act in the presence of a child under 16.
Singh’s defence solicitor Abdullah Altintop argued his client acted on an assumption that the victim had been flirting with him after consuming alcohol over a period of several hours, but Magistrate Pauline Spencer quashed his defence.
Ms Spencer said even if the victim had flirted, it would never excuse such behaviour.
She convicted Singh, sentenced him to 200 hours of community service and listed him on the Sex Offenders Registry for the second charge.
“He’s in a position of trust,” Ms Spencer said.
“I’m not going to have any blaming of the victim.”
At an earlier hearing, the court heard on January 1 this year, Singh collected the woman and her daughter and dropped them at an address in Cranbourne West.
The woman paid the taxi fare, before Singh began to touch her breast.
The woman’s four-year-old daughter started to cry and when the woman went to get out of the vehicle, Singh asked if he could continue feeling her breast for $5.
Mr Altintop said a conviction would greatly impact the character requirements of his permanent residency application.
He said his client had no priors and was remorseful about his actions.
Police prosecutor Gary van der Poel said Singh was in a position of trust, and that a jail term was warranted, given the serious nature of the charges.
In handing down her decision, Ms Spencer described Singh’s actions as “disgraceful”.
However, because the Taxi-driver was apologetic and had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, and was at low risk of reoffending, he escaped a jail term.
Source: Local Leader Newspaper