Private Hire Driver Found Guilty of ‘Appalling’ Rape of Glasgow Teen

An alleged private hire driver has been found guilty of the “appalling” rape of a teenager who thought she was getting into a taxi.

Mohammed Maqsood was convicted on Tuesday of the serious sex attack, which took place in Glasgow last year.

The 18-year-old victim had been on a night out in the city’s Shawlands suburb on December 5, when she got into what she believed was a private hire taxi being driven by the 35-year-old, but was taken to Thornliebank in Renfrewshire and raped.

According to the Scottish Sun, he was caught by police less than two weeks after the attack, following an investigation led by specialist officers from Greater Glasgow Division’s Public Protection Unit.

Following the conviction at the High Court in Glasgow, Detective Inspector Graeme McLachlan said: “Maqsood targeted this young woman who had simply been enjoying a night out with her friends.

“Despite her appalling ordeal, she had the courage to speak out about what happened to her and I would like to thank her for her bravery in reporting this to police and having the courage to provide her evidence in court.”

The case bears similarities to the conviction of Pakistan-born Arshad Mohammed, who, in 2015, was found guilty of raping a 19-year-old after he drove her to a secluded dead end in Renfrewshire.

Following the sex attack, he told the victim  — who had got into his private hire cab in her pyjamas, with a coat on top, following an evening watching television at a friend’s house  — “See you later, princess.”

Lodging a special defence of consent, Mohammed alleged that the woman had asked him if he wanted to have sex, claiming after the rape she told him: “Thank you driver, now I can get a good night’s sleep.”

The Pakistani was caught when police took a DNA sample after he targeted two further lone teenage passengers several months after the attack in November 2010, but fled abroad and was later arrested in Norway.

Mohammed’s defence counsel Kevin McCallum said his client “continues to protest his innocence to the rape”, adding: “As far as the sexual remarks it may be down to cultural issues he didn’t intend to cause alarm to these teenage girls.”