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Allegations
of Sexual Abuse in NZ |
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The taxi industry wants
drivers to install tape recorders or cameras in their cars to protect
themselves after a spate of false rape allegations. Drivers concede that
assaults by cabbies do happen, but say many more false allegations are made
or threatened against drivers every day. Last month, a
23-year-old woman was charged with falsely alleging that she was raped in the
back of a Wellington taxi. And in June,
29-year-old taxi driver Allen Lepou-Umaga, also of Wellington, was found not
guilty of raping a 17-year-old nearly a year after the allegation was made. Richard Wright, head of
Wellington's Taxi School, said false allegations and threats to taxi drivers
were common. He condemned any driver
who assaulted a passenger, but said drivers also needed to protect themselves
against false complaints. Wright said he once had
a woman demand a free ride or threaten to tell police he had molested her. He kept the radio
channel open so others could hear their discussion and drove her towards the
police station. She fled. Wright recommends
drivers attach cheap pocket tape recorders to their steering wheel to record
any inappropriate conversations. He also advises his
students to eject at a safe location any woman who is misbehaving. "I tell (students)
quite bluntly, if you think the person is going to cause trouble, terminate
the fare and drop them off somewhere safe. Better to lose the fare than face
false allegations." Taxi Federation head
Tim Reddish said more drivers were installing cameras in their cars to
protect drivers and passengers. The cameras were mandatory in some Australian
states, and between 5% and 10% of New Zealand taxis had them. Reddish advised all
drivers to seat women passengers in the back seat. But drivers remained
vulnerable to false complaints and he said drivers might follow American
trends and install screens between the front and back seats to protect driver
and passenger. "It would be sad
if it gets to that," he said. False assault
allegations were hugely damaging to the industry's reputation. "I think
most of the serious operators in the business are very concerned about
this." Lawyer Greg King, who
recently represented two taxi drivers acquitted of rape charges, said taxi
drivers were extremely vulnerable. King said Lepou-Umaga
was unable to work for a year after the rape charge. Even after being
acquitted, he was unable to return to work because his reputation was
sullied. King said the media
should be more balanced in reporting such events and there should be harsher
penalties for those who make false complaints. |
