Melbourne: An Indian-origin cabbie,
accused of raping a female passenger, today pleaded not guilty
after he was ordered to stand trial at the conclusion of a
three-day hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates Court.
21-year-old Rajveer Singh has been accused of picking
up the woman in his taxi outside the Corner Hotel in
inner-city Richmond on November 21 last year. He later raped
the 40-year-old woman in Northcote, it is alleged.
Singh pleaded not guilty before Magistrate Peter
Reardon. He was released on bail, the Age reported.
Magistrate Reardon ordered Singh face the Victorian
County Court for a directions hearing on October 26, it said.
His trial is expected to commence in June next year.
In a statement to the court, the woman said she was
drunk and had gone into "auto" mode in the cab and had no
memory of what happened.
The woman`s teenage son opened the door of their home
in the middle of the night to find her half naked, drunk,
disorientated and saying she had been raped, the court heard
this week.
The boy told the court as he opened the door he saw a
taxi driver speed away. His mother had no pants on, he said.
He later heard a friend of his mother`s ask her on
speaker phone if she had been sexually abused, the mother
replied: "Yeah", the court heard.
PTI
