'Fare row' rape cab driver jailed

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A taxi driver has been jailed after being convicted of raping a teenage student in Brighton who could not afford to pay her Â£6.80 fare home.

Abul Malik, 29, of Trafalgar Road, Portslade, Sussex, was sentenced to seven years in prison after being found guilty at Lewes Crown Court.

The court was told he forced a 19-year-old girl to have sex on the back seat of his cab on 17 June.

Malik had denied two charges of rape and one count of sexual assault.

The court was told the victim got into Malik's taxi with two male companions to return to a halls of residence near Brighton after a night out.

Full fare demand

The men left the cab after only paying part of the fare when they reached Newmarket Road, leaving the woman alone with Malik.

The jury was told she got out and started walking away when he became angry and demanded the full fare.

However, she reluctantly agreed to get back into the taxi when he offered to drive her home.

Malik then drove her to Jevington Drive, Moulsecoomb, Brighton, where he climbed into the back of the cab and raped her.

Malik will also have to to sign the sexual offenders' register for life.