Police seek witnesses to taxi driver sex assaults .
Police investigating the alleged abduction and sexual assaults of two Hamilton girls are asking for witnesses to come forward.
Abdirahim Sheikh Mohamed Guled, 30, faces charges of sexual violation and abduction of the first victim on March 8 and abducting and indecently assaulting the second victim on Sunday.
Both victims are aged in their early teens, with one confirmed as 14.
The officer in charge of the investigation, Detective Constable Lee Samphier, today thanked the public for their assistance on Sunday in relation to the alleged sexual attack on the 14-year-old girl.
”If it were not for the timely intervention of an alert member of the public, the attack could have been a lot more serious.”
Police wish to hear from anyone who may have witnessed this attack. Please contact Detective Constable Lee Samphier at Hamilton Central Station on 07 858 6200 or alternatively information can be left anonymously with Crime stoppers on 0800 555111.
Guled was denied both bail and name suppression when he appeared in the Hamilton District Court yesterday and will reappear next month.
Although circumstances of the alleged offences are still unclear, it is known that Guled was operating a taxi when he has got each victim into his car, on separate occasions.
He is then alleged to have taken them to the same location to sexually assault them, using cardboard to cover security camera in his vehicle.
He was spotted by a security guard during his second alleged assault.
Guled is married and with five children and has lived in New Zealand for 12 years after immigrating from Somalia.
His counsel, Louis Wilkins, said although Guled admitted to being in the presence of the girls, he would ”vehemently” deny any wrongdoing.
However, the police prosecutor said he had already been texting and trying to ring the complainants – albeit before charges were laid – including one text which read: ”what you did equated to more than a cab fare, special to me”
