A Sunshine Coast cab driver has been given a 90-day conditional sentence for sexual assault against a female passenger – the second such case involving a local cab driver in recent weeks.
John Podger, 61, was found guilty last October on one count of sexual assault related to an incident in August 2017.
He has continued driving cab and working as area manager for Sunshine Coast Taxi since his arrest.
Crown counsel Marion West told the court during a sentencing hearing April 3 that Podger made sexually suggestive comments to the woman passenger during a ride to her home, and when they arrived he asked for a hug, then pulled down the top of the woman’s dress and grabbed and nuzzled her breasts.
Details that might identify the victim, who was known to Podger, are protected by a publication ban.
In her sentencing submission, West referred to another, unrelated case involving a taxi driver with the same company who was sentenced last month to 90 days of house arrest followed by probation for sexually assaulting two women.
In those incidents the man forced kisses on the victims, and West said the accusation against Podger was more serious and called for a six-month conditional sentence including house arrest, which she argued would “support the position that taxi drivers are in a position of trust in the community and [the acts] were a breach of that trust.”
West added that the Crown would not object to house arrest terms that allowed Podger to continue working, but they should require him to be accompanied by another adult when carrying female passengers.
Podger’s lawyer, James Flemming, told the court that his client recognizes the impact to the victim, and also cited the pre-sentence report that showed Podger has, at his own expense, been seeing a psychologist for counselling to “address some of the issues related to this case.”
Flemming noted that under the bail terms agreed to after his arrest, Podger was allowed to continue driving cab without any restrictions on whether he could carry female passengers, and argued that should remain the case.
Flemming said there had never been any complaints of inappropriate conduct involving passengers against Podger before the incident for which he was convicted and none since.
He also produced a letter from the ownership group of Sunshine Coast Taxi indicating that a condition requiring Podger to be accompanied while driving female passengers would likely lead to his work hours being cut back or losing his job altogether.
“Now that he has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a female passenger, it is appropriate for the restriction to be imposed,” West told the judge.
In a sentencing decision handed down the following day, Judge Patricia Bond, who was also the presiding judge at Podger’s trial, said the victim impact statement detailed “dramatic affects” on someone who was “a very fragile and vulnerable person at the time of the offence.”
Bond also said that while she felt that Podger’s behaviour “fell well below the standard expected of professional drivers in our society,” it was not predatory and did not represent a risk to the general public, so a conditional sentence that allows him to continue working was appropriate.
During the 90-day sentence, Podger will have to remain under house arrest except for five days each week when he will be allowed out between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. in order to work and attend to personal business.
Judge Bond rejected the Crown’s request for a condition that if he continues working as a cabbie he must be accompanied when driving females.
Podger will also have to serve two years of probation at the end of the 90-day sentence, and be registered as a sex offender.
