A Leven man used a a taxi driver’s own seatbelt to trap her, before sexually assaulting her.
Graham Hay pinned the female driver to her seat by pulling on her belt and then leaned over from the back seat to stick his hand up her skirt.
After being taken from Leven to his partner’s home in Dysart, Hay pounced from the back seat after paying the driver, trying to lick and kiss her while she was restrained.
After providing the “inconceivable” explanation the driver had actually tried to kiss him while she was stuck in her seatbelt, he was convicted of the sexual assault.
Hay was placed on the Sex Offenders Register and will be sentenced next month.
‘Giggly’ passenger
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard, on July 26 last year, Hay jumped into the back of a taxi in Leven at around 10.15pm after having “two or three pints”.
He asked the driver, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to take him to Dysart.
However, he began acting unusually on Standing Stane Road.
The complainer told the court: “He says he was watching me in the mirror.
“He says ‘I could have had you’. He started getting awfully giggly.
“I couldn’t see him right in my mirror.”
At the end of the journey, the woman parked on Fraser Place and asked for her fare.
Hay paid £20 and when she reached to put the money in a bag in the driver-side door pocket, he seized her seatbelt from behind.
Terrifying attack
The woman said: “He handed me the money no problem.
“I went to get my bag to put the money in.
“That was when the seatbelt got pulled and it pulled my neck back.
“He was struggling, trying to get his hand up my skirt.
“It was tight enough I couldn’t move forward.
“I was hitting his hand away.
“He got his hand up my inner thigh.”
Hay seized the woman’s face and tried to kiss and lick her, attempting to get his tongue in her mouth.
She said when she received a phone call from her next fare, Hay fled the taxi, leaving his phone in the backseat.
Accused ‘not remotely credible’
Hay, 58, said the woman’s seatbelt had become stuck while she was turning to collect the fare.
He said he dropped the bank note between the two front seats and while leaning in to retrieve it, she motioned to kiss him.
Hay denied suggestions from fiscal depute Mat Piskorz he chose the woman’s taxi deliberately because he was attracted to her.
His version of events was rejected by Sheriff John MacRitchie.
He said: “I’ve carefully considered the evidence in this case.
“I didn’t find the accused remotely credible or reliable.
“He contradicted himself continually, one word after another.
“He gave evidence which appeared nonsensical.
“In the circumstances, I have to say it’s fanciful that she would have acted in this way.”
He said other witnesses – including a family member, a police officer and the driver’s next fare supported the complainer’s “credibility and reliability” when outlining her “distress”.
He added: “It’s clear from the evidence of the phone loss – that supports the fact that an incident took place.
“It’s inconceivable in my view that this complainer would have created this out of thin air.”
Hay, of Letham Terrace in Leven, was found guilty of sexual assault and will be sentenced on January 18, after reports are prepared.
For the latest court cases across Tayside and Fife, join our dedicated Facebook page.
