Cabbie eludes jail time after woman assaulted

The taxi driver who last month was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman in his cab will not serve any jail time, a judge ruled today.

Instead, territorial court Judge Mike Cozens gave Mohammed Abdullahi a three-month conditional sentence which essentially puts him under strict bail supervision for the next 90 days.

The 49-year-old Golden Taxi employee will be permitted to leave his residence to go to work, school, or place of worship with his supervisor’s written permission, the judge ruled.

Although Abdullahi is no longer allowed to operate a cab in the City of Whitehorse, both under the judge’s orders and under the city’s Vehicle For Hire Bylaw, he is still working as a dispatcher.

Abdullahi’s lawyer, André Roothman, had asked Cozens to consider a discharge for his client, meaning he would come away from the case with no criminal record.

Roothman argued that a criminal record would unduly harm Abdullahi’s chances of sponsoring his wife and child, who live in Yemen, as Canadian citizens.

The judge rejected that submission, saying a discharge “would undermine public confidence in the administration of justice.”

Abdullahi was charged with sexual assault after grabbing the hand of a 19-year-old girl who was riding in the front seat of his cab and making her touch his exposed penis.

During the trial, Cozens also heard from Abdullahi’s former girlfriend and mother of one of his three children, who said he had done the same thing to her in a Whitehorse movie theatre before they started dating.

Cozens said the convicted man breached the trust a person should rightfully expect when getting into a cab. The man tried to take advantage of a young person who had been drinking and was visibly upset when she entered his vehicle, the judge said.

He also noted, however, that after the initial incident, Abdullahi did not try to force the girl to touch his penis again, nor did he take her to a secluded location or further threaten her in any way.

All things considered, the assault was on the low end of the spectrum, Cozens said, and according to a report written by Abdullahi’s probation officer, he is at a very low risk to reoffend.

At the end of the sentencing hearing, Cozens added: “An unfortunate side effect of Mr. Abdullahi’s conviction is to also shed suspicion on other taxi drivers of visible minorities.”

This same issue was raised by United Taxi owner Mohamed Abbas Osman, who spoke to the Star shortly after Abdullahi’s conviction.

He said many of the city’s African taxi drivers have been painted with the same brush as Abdullahi, and those who share Abdullahi’s first name have been particularly vilified.