Edinburgh taxi driver admits raping teenage girl

A TAXI driver who took a schoolgirl to a flat in his cab before subjecting her to a sex attack was placed behind bars today after admitting assaulting and raping the teenager.

Mr Ashraf appeared at the High Court in Edinburgh. Picture: TSPL

Mohammed Ashraf had asked to take the 14-year-old into Edinburgh and told her he wanted to buy her something.

The girl thought they were going shopping but Ashraf took her instead to an empty flat.

Advocate depute David Taylor told the High Court in Edinburgh said the girl told Ashraf she wanted to leave and that her family would be wondering where she was.

But Ashraf, 53, ignored her protests and pushed her down and lay on top of her.

The advocate depute said: “She could not get him off, he was too big for her to move.”

“He told her the quicker she enjoyed what he was doing and the quicker she got in a good mood, the quicker he would let her go home.”

“The victim kept on asking him if she could go home. He replied ‘No’,” said Mr Taylor.

She told him to stop and pushed him away before Ashraf said to her “kiss me downstairs”.

“She said she did not want to. The accused told her that he would only let her go home if she did this,” said Mr Taylor.

The prosecutor said after the assault Ashraf appeared “annoyed” with the victim and asked her what she would tell her family.

“She told him that she would say that they had been shopping,” he added.

After the girl got home she went straight to her room and sent a text message to her sister. Her sister arrived home five minutes later.

The court heard Ashraf’s DNA was found on swabs taken from the girl and her DNA was present on swabs from him.

Ashraf, of Netherbank, Edinburgh, admitted assaulting and orally raping the teenager on November 16, 2012.

Judge John Morris QC remanded Ashraf in custody and deferred sentence until June.