The Romanian Taxi Driver Tried For Raping A Client Convinced The Jury Of An English Court That The Woman

Ioan Cristian Manole, aged 45, was accused of taking advantage of the fact that the woman would have fallen asleep on the back seat of his taxi, in the early hours of the morning. Prosecutors claimed the woman was shocked when she woke up to find the driver raping her. But the 45-year-old denied wrongdoing and said he asked his client if he could have sex with her “and she said yes”.

Following a seven-day trial at Winchester Crown Court, jurors returned verdicts of not guilty of rape and sexual assault.

Manole was brought to court after the 40-year-old mother of three claimed she woke up on the seat of his taxi as he raped her after a night out. The alleged attack happened in Fareham, Hampshire, after the woman called a taxi to take her home from a friend’s home.

On the first day of the trial, prosecutor Simon Foster had said: “She disagreed, she said she woke up in a taxi with this defendant sexually penetrating her. We’re not talking in this case about two parties who met in a bar, or anything like that, we’re talking about a taxi driver and his accuser. Obviously a taxi driver is not a police officer or someone charged with protecting the public. But a taxi driver who is asked to take a female passenger home alone has a duty to take her home safely and properly.”

The prosecutor also told the court that that evening the woman had gone out drinking with friends. Around 3am she left her friend’s house by Aqua Cars taxi and had a conversation with Manole. The driver told him that he was divorced, lived in Southampton and had a teenage daughter studying in Romania.

“The trip home was uneventful. There was a conversation between them until the taxi driver stopped near where she lives. The victim remembers that he took off his seat belt and paid and was still talking to the taxi driver, who at one point was on the phone, in Romanian, he did not understand what he was saying. He also said that he was sitting right behind the taxi driver and fell asleep,” the prosecutor continued. The woman does not know how long she slept and woke up with Manole raping her in the back seat of the taxi.

The Romanian’s accuser continued: “When he woke up, of course he realized what was happening and stopped. The taxi driver had taken advantage of a very tired woman. She could feel his body next to hers. She reacted by standing up immediately.” Manole was then said to have dropped the passenger off at home: “She described the state at the time, feeling shocked and numb.”

Manole denied rape and sexual assault and said he asked the woman if “he could have sex with her and she said yes.” During the hearing, the prosecutor countered: “The taxi driver is essentially saying that she agreed. [El sugerează] that he had sex [cu ea]with her consent, although they had only known each other for half an hour”.

The defendant was acquitted by the jury of all charges at the end of the hearings.

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