Taxi driver convicted of indecently touching passenger
A Christchurch taxi driver faces possible loss of his New Zealand residency after being convicted on two charges of indecently assaulting a teenage woman passenger.
Christchurch District Court Judge Jane Farish told the jury: “For what its worth, I don’t disagree with your verdicts having seen the CCTV footage and listened to all the evidence.”
She remanded 30-year-old Sonny Bains on bail for sentencing on May 30, at the end of the two-day trial.
Bains is a migrant from India. Defence counsel April Kelland told the court he had been granted permanent residency and would be applying for New Zealand citizenship.
However, Judge Farish warned that being convicted on the indecency charges within a certain period could trigger a review of his immigration status.
“There may be far more serious implications than just sentencing options,” she told him, before giving him a first strike warning under the system that imposes heavier penalties on repeat violent or sexual offenders.
After checking with Crown prosecutor Pip Norman, Judge Farish opted not to refer the case for a restorative justice meeting between Bains and the woman he indecently touched. The woman had said when she gave evidence during the trial that she never wanted to see Bains again.
Bains was a driver for Blue Star Taxis, but he is no longer driving taxis. Miss Kelland said he was now in other full-time employment.
The incident took place on February 20, 2016, after Bains picked up the lone 19-year-old from a social gathering in Aranui, when she wanted to be taken to a hotel near Christchurch Airport.
He did not put the taxi meter on.
What happened next was captured on the taxi’s closed-circuit television, a video that was played for the jury during the first day of the trial, while the woman gave her evidence. The video did not include any sound recording.
The Crown case was that Bains had touched the woman on her legs and then on her breasts, without her consent.
Bains claimed that she had offered to let him touch her in return for a reduction in the taxi fare. Bains accepted in the later video of his police interview that his conduct had been “extremely unprofessional”.
A witness from Blue Star Taxis said there had been no other complaints about Bains, and after the verdicts the court was told that he had no previous convictions.
Miss Kelland told the jury that Bains accepted that he touched the woman’s leg and breast. The defence said there had been a “direct invitation” to touch her leg and the touching of her breast “has to be seen in the overall context and circumstances”.
After verdicts, Judge Farish noted that the offending had had a reasonably serious effect on the woman, according to her evidence. She remanded Bains for a pre-sentence report and an updated victim impact statement.
Category: Focus
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