Unlicensed touting Minicab driver jailed

A touting minicab driver has been jailed for raping a woman he picked up from a west end street. Mohamed Hacene-Chaouch, aged 46 from Catford, was sentenced to seven years and three months imprisonment at the Old Bailey after being found guilty of rape.

The judge also issued him with a sexual offences prevention order which prevents Hacene-Chaouch from working as a private hire or taxi driver for hire or reward; he must also sign the sex offenders register for life. He picked up his 24-year-old victim in the early hours of 27 January 2013. She had been enjoying a night out with friends in Soho, but became separated from her friends at just after midnight and hailed a minicab in Charing Cross Road. 

Hacene-Chaouch, an unlicenced minicab driver who was touting that night, picked her up. After she withdrew cash to pay for her journey, she drifted in and out of sleep in the car. When the car arrived at her home address in Hackney, the woman woke up to discover she was being sexually assaulted by Hacene-Chaouch. She managed to get out the car and go home where she later told her friend. Police were contacted the following day and statements taken from the victim. 

Police officers used CCTV footage from the petrol station near Shoreditch, where the victim stopped to withdraw money out of ATM, to trace the car. The footage showed the registration number of Hacene-Chaouch’s car, which police traced, leading to his arrest and subsequent charge.