Halifax cab driver guilty of sexually assaulting female passenger

HALIFAX – A Halifax cab driver has been convicted of sexually assaulting a female passenger last summer.

Saher Hamdan, 29, sexually assaulted a young woman as she waited to pay her fare on July 15, 2016, trying to kiss her and touching her sexually without her consent.

He was convicted Wednesday in Halifax provincial court, and will be sentenced Oct. 13.

The case came at a time of heightened anxiety — Halifax police said in 2016 there had been 14 reported sexual assault cases involving taxi drivers over the previous four years.

At the time, police reported Hamdan had picked up a female passenger in the suburb of Clayton Park that night, between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

The driver stopped en route, and reportedly said there was an issue with the meter that needed to be fixed.

The woman told police the driver then tried to kiss her, locked the cab doors and touched her inappropriately over her clothes.

Police said she got out of the cab and went to a friend’s house.

After a news release was put out by police, Hamdan turned himself in to police.

Hamdan’s taxi licence is reportedly suspended.

There is a ban on the publication of the victim’s name.

(The Canadian Press, Global News)