Another Rickshaw Rape in Central London... by Thomas the Taxi

A doctor was raped by a rickshaw driver after a night out in London during the early hours on February 5., a court has heard.

The woman, in her 20s, was attacked after her friend departed and she was left alone with Turkish-born Murat Durmus, 23. 

The Doctor who had kept her sexuality a secret, was forced to come out to her family because of her ordeal, the Old Bailey was told.

The woman and her girlfriend had walked around the road closures near Tottenham Court Road and decided to catch a rickshaw, which ply for trade all over the West End, to their homes near Tower Bridge.

Her friend was first to get out and the doctor was left alone to continue her journey in the rickshaw with Durmus.

A passer-by noticed Durmus arguing with the doctor, telling her to get back inside the rickshaw. When the passer-by intervened, the doctor grabbed his arm and said she wanted to go with him. But Durmus insisted he was owed money by the doctor.

The Good Samaritan accompanied the pair to a cash-point but left when the woman walked away and Durmus rode off.

The woman said: "Things got a bit hazy then, I honestly don't remember how it all started, but I remember telling him to leave me alone".

Lisa Matthews, prosecuting, said: "The CCTV shows the defendant picking her up and putting her into the rickshaw and then driving around".

The jury were shown CCTV footage of Durmus as he cycled through the deserted streets sometimes doubling back on himself.

Ms Matthews added: 'Her next memory was being raped by him. That happened she thought, in the rickshaw".

Because she had been drinking heavily, she remembered something of standing up and then lying down.

She said she was crying and saying 'no', but he put his hand over her mouth to stop her screaming.

After raping her, Durmus cycled off leaving the woman to make her own way home, the court was told.

Ms Matthews said: "She was very distressed by what had happened and told her flatmate that she had been raped. She also told her brother who was staying with her".

Her family at that stage did not know she was in fact Gay and she found it very difficult to tell them what had happened.

The doctor was able to give police a description of her alleged attacker and his rickshaw and 13 days later he was tracked down and arrested.

The court heard DNA from Durmus was found inside his alleged victim.

Durmus of Walthamstow, denies two counts of rape and claimed the sex was consensual.

He Said "She had approached me, took my hand and went into a corner and kissed me. We returned to my rickshaw and went to a garage area". 

He said she initiated the approach.'

The trial is expected to last two weeks.

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 REMEMBER 2005...
'£1' rickshaw driver jailed for rape
23 March 2005
A RICKSHAW driver has been jailed for eight years for raping a drunk passenger he promised to take home for just £1.

Colombian Luis Rozo, 29, was found guilty of attacking the 21-year-old girl in a dark alley off Herbrand Street, St Pancras.

Rozo picked up his victim after a night out in the West End and agreed to take her back to her parents' house in Camden Town for a bargain price.

But instead he pulled up in a dead end and attacked the girl, who had been drinking heavily. But Rozo was unaware that he was being watched by a resident, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.

Andrew Halsey, 47, saw the rickshaw from his flat and dialled 999.