8:00am Sunday 25th May 2008
By Miranda Newey
A TAXI driver has been cleared of kidnapping and robbing a woman in Widnes.
Hackney Carriage driver Mahza Kahn, aged 38, of Nelson, Lancashire was found not guilty by a jury at Warrington Crown Court last Thursday.
Mr Kahn had denied attacking and trying to rob Deborah Mellor, of Widnes, near to the Fiddler's Ferry power station at about 11pm on September 8.
He said: "She started to lash out at me and she started to hit me on the head. She was attacking me from behind and she was distracting me from driving.
"I decided that I should probably pull up somewhere safer where there was no obstruction for other road users and cause an accident on the road."
Khan said she continued attacking him and then got out of the car and started running before falling back onto railings.
He added: "I lifted her up, I grabbed hold of her arm but she was still throwing punches at me.
"I gave her the options to take her back (to where the journey started at Central Railway Station) because that's what we do in this circumstance. She had calmed down and she handed me £15 and I gave her 50p change.
"If she had refused to pay me and go back in this kind of circumstance we would ring the police - that would have been the last resort. I would never have forced her against her will."
When Ian Metcalf, defending Mr Kahn, asked why he had driven off leaving Ms Mellor alone, Mr Khan said he was in shock himself and Ms Mellor was in distress, but through only her own fault.
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