A taxi driver who sexually assaulted a barely conscious passenger before stealing her engagement ring has been sentenced to 10 months in prison, as his victim says she is now a fearful shadow of her former self.
Satinder Satinder, 29, was sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Monday after pleading guilty to non-consensual sexual touching and theft from his passenger, who was 30 at the time.
A taxi driver has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a passenger.Credit: Wolter Peeters
Court documents said the 45-minute assault was captured on the in-taxi CCTV, which showed Satinder helping the “clearly intoxicated” victim into his cab at about 3:30am in June.
He repeatedly groped her on top of and underneath her shirt and pants, despite the victim trying to push his hands away when she occasionally regained consciousness, the documents said.
Satinder spent three minutes twisting her engagement ring off, and pulled her top down before putting his face over her breasts.
He dropped the victim at her house, fleeing before being paid a fare, and was arrested the next day by federal police at Melbourne’s international airport.
“[The offending] was repulsive and as wrong as it could possibly be,” magistrate Kay Robertson said in her sentencing remarks.
“You were employed as a taxi driver. You were in a position of trust. People in this community, particularly young people and vulnerable people, rely on taxi drivers safely taking them to their destination.
“I have to send a message to taxi drivers, and ride-share drivers, that there will be punishment if they breach that trust … particularly when that passenger is vulnerable.”
Satinder, appearing via a video link from custody, sat unmoving with his eyes downcast as a victim impact statement was read in court.
“Someone took advantage of me in what should have been a safe place,” the victim said in the statement, read on the victim’s behalf by prosecutor Allie Birkin.
“My experience as a mother and partner has been forever altered. I no longer feel like I can provide the kind of security and safety I want for my children. I push myself to keep going, but I don’t feel OK.”
Robertson said she had considered in her sentencing Satinder’s deteriorating mental health in custody, where he had been held in isolation because of threats to his safety.
“You have had to be kept in a secure cell, in part because you are of a different colour to other prisoners, and in part because word has got out about the type of offence you have committed,” she said.
Robertson noted the maximum sentence for a charge in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court was two years, and Satinder would be deported at the end of his sentence because his visa had expired while in custody.
He will serve about five months with time already served.
The sentencing comes as the taxi industry struggles to retain public trust amid claims that scams are rife and competition from ride-share companies such as Uber.
Australia does not have a uniform taxi regulation system, and the response to complaints can vary state by state.
Data from the Crime Statistics Agency, produced in response to a request from this masthead, showed 26 people were sexually assaulted in cars last year. The figure does not distinguish between taxis, ride-shares and private vehicles.
Safe Transport Victoria, the state taxi and ride-share regulator, does not report instances of sexual assault, and did not respond to a request for comment by deadline. In NSW, the Point to Point Transport Commissioner has created a complaint hotline, which received 1047 calls in its first six months, resulting in 520 drivers being disciplined, according to The Guardian.
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