Taxi driver found guilty of raping student in 2006

A former taxi driver has been found guilty of raping a student following a night out in Loughborough 19 years ago.

The woman reported the attack in October 2006, but the driver was not identified at the time, and the investigation was closed in 2009.

However, Mahbubur Rahman, of Jane Street in Chadderton, Oldham, was charged in 2023 after he was arrested for an unrelated crime, and his DNA matched that taken from the student.

Rahman was found guilty on Wednesday of one count of rape by a jury at Leicester Crown Court following a four-day trial.

Rahman, who is 50 but was 31 at the time, had picked up the victim after encountering her in the street shortly after 02:15 GMT.

After stopping at an ATM in Greenclose Lane, Rahman is believed to have driven the victim to George Deacon Court car park in Chestnut Street, before raping her in the back of his car, Leicestershire Police said.

Giving evidence in court, the woman told jurors she had since suffered from flashbacks about what happened.

Addressing the jury, she described the driver raping her in the back of his taxi.

“I just remember being helpless. I had no strength and couldn’t move my arms,” she said.

A former housemate of the student also gave evidence and described being woken up in the early hours of 7 October 2006, as the student was banging on the door to be let in.

They said the victim was “absolutely hysterical” and curled up in a ball on the floor in a foetal position, crying.

Rahman’s defence barrister Joey Kwong KC told jurors the student consented to sex in exchange for the taxi fare and £100, which was refuted by the victim under cross-examination.

Following the attack, the court heard the victim was able to make her way home and the police were called.

An investigation commenced and the victim’s underwear was found at the location.

The force said detectives undertook extensive inquiries at the time of the attack, which included reviewing hours of CCTV and attempting to identify the driver through local taxi firms.

Vital DNA evidence was also recovered but did not match the profile of anyone on the police database at the time, or to anyone who was interviewed as part of the investigation.

After “all avenues were exhausted”, the police closed the case in 2009, subject to any new information or evidence coming to light.

In April 2022, detectives got an exact DNA match for the offence after Rahman was arrested on suspicion of burglary.

Prior to this, he had not been known to police.

While in custody, as part of standard procedure, a mouth swab was taken to obtain his DNA and run through the policing database.

This sample was found to be a precise DNA match to the semen samples recovered at the time of the rape.

Det Con Kristina Page-Brown, from Leicestershire Police, said: “The victim trusted Rahman to take her home after a night out in Loughborough.

“Instead, he abused that trust and took advantage of a vulnerable woman in the worst way imaginable.

“He has evaded justice for far too long and throughout has shown no remorse or regret for what he did.

“I am pleased he has now been made to answer for the crime but also relieved for the victim that the man who caused irreversible damage to her life now faces years behind bars.”