The judge had told the jury they had to guard against prejudice in a case of a refugee Somalian, HIV positive, taxi driver and not think about stereotypes such as people with HIV shouldn’t have sex or that all Muslims were terrorists.
Taxi driver found guilty of rape
A taxi driver has been found guilty of raping a teenage passenger at his home for the second time after a retrial.
A Wellington District Court jury took seven hours yesterday to find Abdirazak Yussuf Mussa, 56, of Miramar guilty of two charges of rape but found him not guilty on a charge of abducting the 18-year-old with intent to have sex.
Mussa, who is HIV positive, picked the complainant up in his Wellington Competitive taxi in the early hours of September 3, 2006, and kept asking her back to his place for a drink.
After he stopped at a supermarket for beer she gave in. At his house he raped her twice before taking her home. He used condoms during the rape.
In a highly publicised first trial Mussa was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to 11 years. He was freed after an appeal quashed his convictions and ordered a retrial.
It took months before the victim was cleared of contracting Aids.
Judge Bruce Davidson yesterday remanded Mussa in custody till April 22 for a new sentencing.
The judge had told the jury they had to guard against prejudice in a case of a refugee Somalian, HIV positive, taxi driver and not think about stereotypes such as people with HIV shouldn’t have sex or that all Muslims were terrorists.
