Ten year sentence for rapist

Mohamad Caid

An illegal mini-cab driver has been sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court (Jan 27) to at total of ten years in prison for raping one male passenger and sexually assaulting another.

During his trial the jury heard how Mohamad Caid, 38, had been touting as an unlicensed mini-cab driver on two separate occasions in May 2009 close to Charing Cross station. Both victims had been making their way home after leaving a nightclub, when Caid, from Deptford, engaged them in conversation and persuaded them to accept a ride.

In the first incident, the 19 year-old victim was driven to the Lewisham area of South London before being sexually assaulted. Five days later, the second victim, an 18 year-old man was attacked after he and his friend accepted a ride to Fenchurch Street station in the City. Caid followed the men after dropping them off and coerced one into returning to his car. He then drove him to a nearby location where he was raped.

The rape victim was on his first night out in London - just a few weeks after celebrating turning 18 - when he was attacked. After Caid’s conviction he issued a warning to other people tempted to use illegal cabs

"When it came to leaving the club, a guy pulled up and said he was a cab driver. It was my first time in London, so I didn't have a clue. My friend said ‘come on, let's get in’. I wasn't sure, but didn't want to be left behind as I don't know London at all and didn't want to be left stranded not knowing how to get home."

Det Insp  Dave Carter  of the City of London Police responded to today’s sentence: “This was a violent sex attack and the sentence is fully justified. The joint investigation between the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police was thorough. We would remind everybody of the inherent dangers of using unlicensed minicabs".

Caid was convicted of rape, attempted rape, sexual assault and two charges of false imprisonment. He was sentenced to six and half years for the rape and three and half years for the sexual assault, with the sentences to run consecutively.