Cabbie jailed for sex with 14-year-old girl

ASIF ALI: jailed

AN Oldham taxi driver who took advantage of a drunken underage girl has been jailed for four years.

Asif Ali’s young victim, who had been given alcohol and cigarettes, eventually managed to fight her way out of the parked car in Alexandra Park. She ran off half-clothed and shoeless but managed to flag down a passing car and was taken home, where she told police she had been raped.

The court heard the girl had been picked up late at night as she walked home from Oldham town centre, where she had been drinking with friends.

She got into a taxi around Keswick Avenue and Honeywell Lane, which shortly afterwards parked alongside a second taxi.

After a conversation between the drivers, the second man got into the car and they drove to Alexandra Park where the girl was assaulted.

Charlotte Crangle, prosecuting, said the girl’s recollections were hazy but remembered lying in the back seat with the man on top of her, and that she fought and kicked before she could wrench open the car door and run. Her underwear and a pair of earrings were found later during a police search.

Ms Crangle told the court: “It is clear that at some time during that night this man did have sex with the girl, who was vulnerable and drunk.”

Manchester Crown Court heard how Ali (41) of Fern Street, would have got away with the attack in August 2006, but for coming to the attention of the police five years later, when his DNA was matched to samples from the girl.

Ali at first denied the attack but later admitted sexual activity with a child.

Mohammed Qazi, defending, said his client’s life since being arrested had been “chaotic and difficult,” that he had separated from his wife and young children, had few job prospects and his health had suffered.

Ali will serve half his sentence in prison and he will be subject to the sexual offences prevention order.