heaven above
10-22-2004, 02:47 PM
Oldham Evening Chronicle - Friday, 22 October, 2004
Bogus taxi driver ‘raped’ woman, 23
by OUR COURT REPORTER
A man posed as a town-centre taxi driver so he could take a young woman from Oldham on to moors to rape her, a court heard yesterday.
Ion Munteanu (20) picked up the young woman in his Nissan Serena people-carrier after stopping to ask if she needed a cab, it was claimed.
He then refused to stop at her destination and drove to moors at Blackstone Edge near Rochdale, where he sexually assaulted her, a jury heard.
In the run-up to the alleged attack, the panicking woman (23) sent two text messages on her mobile phone to a former boy friend as she sat in the front passenger seat of the Nissan.
One message said: “I’m in trouble. Got into a six-seater said it was a taxi but wasn’t.”
The second said: “Guy said he was a taxi but not — don’t know what to do.”
Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester heard that the woman also rang her ex-boy friend and said: “I’m being raped.” He called 999 when he couldn’t ring her back.
A passing motorist later found the woman, barefoot, curled up in the foetal position and freezing on a grass verge rocking backwards and forwards.
Medical examinations revealed she had sustained 40 injuries.
The incident occurred after the woman, known as Miss A, had been out with friends in Rochdale on Saturday, November 22 last year.
Prosecutor Graham Knowles said Miss A, from Oldham, had visited clubs including Nemesis and Liquid Rock and she had drunk some alcohol and taken half an ecstasy tablet.
Miss A eventually found herself alone in Drake Street in the early hours of Sunday after an argument broke out between her ex-boy friend and her present boy friend who had been in the same club.
Posed
Mr Knowles said Miss A was crying in a shop doorway when Munteanu drove up in the grey car and asked if she needed a taxi.
“The defendant posed as a taxi driver in order to do what he did,” he said.
The court heard that Miss A asked if she could go to Littleborough and Munteanu said he knew where it was. She told him she would give further directions when they reached the centre of the village.
During the 10-15 minute journey Miss A was on her mobile phone to her new boy friend telling him she was in a taxi on the way to his house.
The boy friend heard Miss A say “You’ve gone too far” and “turn round” and heard Munteanu say “I can’t”, it was alleged.
He then heard Miss A say “Stop the car” before the call was disconnected.
Mr Knowles said Miss A as “panicking” as Munteanu ignored every opportunity to turn round and drove the car on to Blackstone Edge and the moors. She was telling Munteanu to stop and turn round.
The court heard that at one stage Miss A had managed to use her mobile phone and physically ring her ex-boyfriend.
Mr Knowles said that when Miss A managed to ring her ex-boy friend she said she was being raped.
“He heard a struggle and cars going past. He tried to call back but couldn’t connect. He rang 999.”
The court heard that Miss A tried to get out of the vehicle but the car door wouldn’t open. He then pulled into a lay-by.
Giving evidence, Miss A said: “He took my phone off me. I was still asking him to let me go. He was just saying he wanted sex and wouldn’t let me go.
“I think he leant across me still sat in his seat. The door was locked and I couldn’t get out anyway.
“He tried to kiss me but I think I bit him. He started getting angry and calling me a bitch. The more I struggled the more angry he got and violent, he just kept hitting me in the face.
“He was saying he just wanted sex.”
Miss A told how Munteanu kept grabbing her head and pulling it back so hard she thought he’d “pull it off”.
He said she should co-operate or she’d be killed saying “Do you wanna die?”.
Miss A said Muntenau suggested she could perform oral sex but then raped her.
He let her out of the car when she said she needed the toilet but tried to keep hold of her by grabbing her clothing.
She then pushed the car door shut, possible hitting her alleged attacker’s head, and ran.
Injuries
When she realised she wasn’t being followed she hid on a grass verge where at about 4am a passing motorist found her.
She asked the man to contact her boy friend on a second mobile phone she carried in her bag.
She was taken to her boy friend’s house and police were called.
Miss A’s 40 injuries included cuts and bruises to her face, hands, back and leg.
Munteanu was arrested in Yorkshire on Monday, November 24, after he was found reversing up a motorway slip-road in the same car.
Police in the county initially knew nothing of the rape allegation and he was released to collect his property days later.
Meanwhile, CCTV footage from Rochdale town centre showed a Nissan Serena with a missing front hub cap and a description of a man speaking fractured English had emerged.
Munteanu was arrested in connection with the rape allegation when he returned to collect his belongings.
He initially told police he had been in London at the time of the rape.
He then submitted a statement saying he had consensual sex with a woman he saw on the street after meeting her in a club earlier.
He said she ran off afterwards.
Munteanu, of Down Hills Way, Turpike Lane, London, denies rape.
The case continues.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bogus taxi driver ‘raped’ woman, 23
by OUR COURT REPORTER
A man posed as a town-centre taxi driver so he could take a young woman from Oldham on to moors to rape her, a court heard yesterday.
Ion Munteanu (20) picked up the young woman in his Nissan Serena people-carrier after stopping to ask if she needed a cab, it was claimed.
He then refused to stop at her destination and drove to moors at Blackstone Edge near Rochdale, where he sexually assaulted her, a jury heard.
In the run-up to the alleged attack, the panicking woman (23) sent two text messages on her mobile phone to a former boy friend as she sat in the front passenger seat of the Nissan.
One message said: “I’m in trouble. Got into a six-seater said it was a taxi but wasn’t.”
The second said: “Guy said he was a taxi but not — don’t know what to do.”
Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester heard that the woman also rang her ex-boy friend and said: “I’m being raped.” He called 999 when he couldn’t ring her back.
A passing motorist later found the woman, barefoot, curled up in the foetal position and freezing on a grass verge rocking backwards and forwards.
Medical examinations revealed she had sustained 40 injuries.
The incident occurred after the woman, known as Miss A, had been out with friends in Rochdale on Saturday, November 22 last year.
Prosecutor Graham Knowles said Miss A, from Oldham, had visited clubs including Nemesis and Liquid Rock and she had drunk some alcohol and taken half an ecstasy tablet.
Miss A eventually found herself alone in Drake Street in the early hours of Sunday after an argument broke out between her ex-boy friend and her present boy friend who had been in the same club.
Posed
Mr Knowles said Miss A was crying in a shop doorway when Munteanu drove up in the grey car and asked if she needed a taxi.
“The defendant posed as a taxi driver in order to do what he did,” he said.
The court heard that Miss A asked if she could go to Littleborough and Munteanu said he knew where it was. She told him she would give further directions when they reached the centre of the village.
During the 10-15 minute journey Miss A was on her mobile phone to her new boy friend telling him she was in a taxi on the way to his house.
The boy friend heard Miss A say “You’ve gone too far” and “turn round” and heard Munteanu say “I can’t”, it was alleged.
He then heard Miss A say “Stop the car” before the call was disconnected.
Mr Knowles said Miss A as “panicking” as Munteanu ignored every opportunity to turn round and drove the car on to Blackstone Edge and the moors. She was telling Munteanu to stop and turn round.
The court heard that at one stage Miss A had managed to use her mobile phone and physically ring her ex-boyfriend.
Mr Knowles said that when Miss A managed to ring her ex-boy friend she said she was being raped.
“He heard a struggle and cars going past. He tried to call back but couldn’t connect. He rang 999.”
The court heard that Miss A tried to get out of the vehicle but the car door wouldn’t open. He then pulled into a lay-by.
Giving evidence, Miss A said: “He took my phone off me. I was still asking him to let me go. He was just saying he wanted sex and wouldn’t let me go.
“I think he leant across me still sat in his seat. The door was locked and I couldn’t get out anyway.
“He tried to kiss me but I think I bit him. He started getting angry and calling me a bitch. The more I struggled the more angry he got and violent, he just kept hitting me in the face.
“He was saying he just wanted sex.”
Miss A told how Munteanu kept grabbing her head and pulling it back so hard she thought he’d “pull it off”.
He said she should co-operate or she’d be killed saying “Do you wanna die?”.
Miss A said Muntenau suggested she could perform oral sex but then raped her.
He let her out of the car when she said she needed the toilet but tried to keep hold of her by grabbing her clothing.
She then pushed the car door shut, possible hitting her alleged attacker’s head, and ran.
Injuries
When she realised she wasn’t being followed she hid on a grass verge where at about 4am a passing motorist found her.
She asked the man to contact her boy friend on a second mobile phone she carried in her bag.
She was taken to her boy friend’s house and police were called.
Miss A’s 40 injuries included cuts and bruises to her face, hands, back and leg.
Munteanu was arrested in Yorkshire on Monday, November 24, after he was found reversing up a motorway slip-road in the same car.
Police in the county initially knew nothing of the rape allegation and he was released to collect his property days later.
Meanwhile, CCTV footage from Rochdale town centre showed a Nissan Serena with a missing front hub cap and a description of a man speaking fractured English had emerged.
Munteanu was arrested in connection with the rape allegation when he returned to collect his belongings.
He initially told police he had been in London at the time of the rape.
He then submitted a statement saying he had consensual sex with a woman he saw on the street after meeting her in a club earlier.
He said she ran off afterwards.
Munteanu, of Down Hills Way, Turpike Lane, London, denies rape.
The case continues.
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