Australia: 'I've lost everything': acquitted cab driver

A 37-year-old former taxi driver wept as he told of his fear of ever driving a taxi again after he was yesterday acquitted by a Perth District Court jury of rape allegations.

Prabhjit Gill shed tears publicly outside the court saying that he had lost his hopes of becoming a dentist in Perth by the proceedings.

Meanwhile his friend and fellow taxi driver Amrit Pal Singh, 32, was convicted on one charge of raping a woman in her 20s in the back of his cab last year.

The jury accepted the prosecution's case that Singh had taken advantage of the woman while she was in a semi-conscious state from a night of drinking at a hen's party on February 5.

The same woman accused Mr Gill of coming to a North Lake car park while she was in Mr Singh's taxi that night and attempting to have sex with her.

Although happy about his acquittal, Mr Gill said he was "shattered" after having his name "framed" by the allegations which arose exactly one year ago.

"One year of hell we've been through but I believe in [my lawyer, Terry] Dobson, I believe in justice so I went all the way," he said. "From the very first day I said 'I'm innocent' and I keep stating 'I'm innocent, I'm innocent'. I stood by the same story always."

He said that he had lost thousands of dollars in applications to have his Indian accreditation as a dentist accepted in Australia, as well as his residency, because of the pending trial. "I lost everything. If I want to become a dentist I have to start [from] the very first English test, it's going to take me two to three years [and] another $20-30,000... where am I going to get it? I have no idea," he said. "I [am] standing here 15 years behind where I was. I'm in the debt of thousands of dollars. I haven't slept for the last one year."

He said he cannot return to driving taxis, but he still had a family to support. "I am scared to drive a taxi, if I drive a taxi [and] somebody says 'he tried to rape me', I [will] go through the whole system again," he said. "Even though I am a big-sized man, I don't have the guts to step into a taxi ever again."

The Department of Transport has still cancelled his taxi licence despite being acquitted of the charges. Managing Director Transport Services Nina Lyhne said the Department of Transport did not consider Mr Gill to be "a fit and proper person to be a taxi driver". Singh's taxi licence has also been revoked.

Judge Gillian Braddock yesterday kept Singh in custody to face sentencing on March 15. Judge Braddock said considering that the matter was "extremely grave" and that Singh was facing a "significant term of imprisonment", she was not prepared to risk allowing him to renew his bail.

Singh gripped the bench and shook his head in wide-eyed disbelief, with a few audible sobs from the gallery.

Mr Gill was ordered by the security guards to leave his friend and when asked outside court what he thought about the decision against his friend he replied: "I feel bad ... I cannot say anything, it's the law."

A spokesman on cultural issues surrounding Perth's Indian community, Suresh Rajan said that even the allegations against the men would "still have a major impact on their families's relationship". He said a conviction would bring "a great deal of shame" to their families but also to the whole village in India.

"There's also the prospect of being further ostracised by their family and by the community," he said. "Even if they're not found guilty the fact that the court attempted to do that still besmirches the reputation of their family."

Original report here




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