A local taxi driver has been found guilty of exposing himself to a young woman in his cab and trying to force her to touch his penis.

Mohammed Abdullahi pleaded not guilty to the charge against him, but was convicted Friday by territorial court judge Michael Cozens after trial.

Abdullahi was charged last summer after a young woman reported being assaulted in his cab.

During the trial, the young woman told the court Abdullahi picked her up as she was walking down Two Mile Hill in the early-morning hours of June 20, 2009.

She was walking back to her downtown home after being unable to get into her father's house in the Takhini North subdivision.

The young woman was scheduled to leave town the next day and was crying as she walked, she testified.

Halfway down the hill, a minivan cab passed her going in the opposite direction, did a U-turn and pulled up beside her.

The cab driver, who she identified in court as Abdullahi, asked if she needed a ride. She said she had no money, but got in anyway and directed him to her house downtown.

Abdullahi drove to the bottom of the hill, then turned in the opposite direction, she said.

The first time Abdullahi touched her, he put his arm around her shoulders as if to comfort her, the young woman said.

When she shrugged him off, he undid her seatbelt, took her hand and put it on his thigh. She pulled away and refastened the belt.

Then, she said, Abdullahi took her hand again, this time placing it around his exposed penis.

The woman said she began yelling at the cabbie and told him to take her to a friend's house in Porter Creek. He complied and did not try to touch her again, she testified.

Once she got to her friend's house, the woman said she was nearly hysterical with fear and anger.

Once she was able to get the story out, her friends tried to call the cab company to complain, then realized they should call the RCMP instead – something the woman said had never occurred to her.

Abdullahi's lawyer, André Roothman, pressed the woman on why she didn't call the police immediately, and suggested that she made up the story.

The woman stuck to her story, however, and when asked why she didn't think to report the incident, said: "I'm not very educated about sexual assault. I knew what he did was wrong, but I didn't know what to do about it.”

Abdullahi took the stand in his own defence and said the entire story was concocted.

He claimed the woman had first asked to go downtown, then changed her mind and wanted to go to Porter Creek with a stop at a trailer park along the way.

Once they got to the Porter Creek address, the woman claimed she didn't have any money, Abdullahi said.

She went inside the house, with a promise to return, he testified, but after waiting for a few minutes, he figured it was a lost cause and drove away.

As the judge pointed out in his final decision, Abdullahi never reported the ride-and-dash, nor did he produce the night's trip sheet on which the lost fare would have been documented.

In protesting his innocence, Abdullahi claimed he would never treat a woman in such a way because he is a married man and a Muslim. His faith prohibits such behaviour, he said.

But that claim opened up Abdullahi's character to the prosecution. Crown prosecutor Bonnie Macdonald put Abdullahi's ex-girlfriend on the stand to recount the couple's first date.

They were at the Qwanlin Cinema watching a movie, Abdullahi's ex testified, and kissing.

Much to her surprise, Abdullahi took his date's hand and placed it on his exposed penis, she told the court.

She said she was horrified and upset and refused to answer Abdullahi's phone calls for several weeks.

She eventually forgave him and the two ended up dating seriously and had a daughter together. The woman broke it off when she found out Abdullahi has a wife and children in Yemen.

Abdullahi's lawyer tried to have that evidence thrown out, but the judge chose to consider it in his final decision.

In finding Abdullahi guilty, Cozens said that while the victim's testimony was clear and consistent, Abdullahi's was not.

He found the 50-year-old man guilty, but put off sentencing until a pre-sentence report is prepared by Abdullahi's probation officer.

Since he was first charged with sexual assault, Abdullahi has been barred from taking any lone females in his cab.

That order still stands while Abdullahi waits to be sentenced, for which no date has been set.