Description
A predator who posed as a taxi driver and picked up a vulnerable woman in Newcastle has been jailed – with help from dedicated officers intervening.
On Saturday, December 20, last year, a woman in her 20s had been enjoying a night out with friends in the Groat Market area of the city centre.
At around 2.20am the following day, she decided to book a taxi to head home but soon became separated from her friend when leaving the venue.
While looking for her driver outside, the woman was approached by a man she did not know, who spoke to her before picking her up from the floor and putting his arm around her.
The man – now known to be Kuldip Chahal – repeatedly directed and physically guided the woman through crowded streets for around ten minutes towards his white Volkswagen Golf parked on Fenkle Street.
The woman, who was alone at the time and intoxicated, was dragged and forced by the offender into his front passenger seat after being told he was taking her home.
However, Chahal was unaware he was already being observed as part of Operation Salus, which sees plain clothes and uniformed officers on duty to identify vulnerability in the night-time economy.
Working alongside officers monitoring city centre CCTV cameras in real time, the team on the ground swiftly stopped the vehicle before it could drive away.
The woman was immediately safeguarded after it was found she did not know Chahal by name, with quick-thinking officers arresting him on suspicion of kidnap.
Further enquiries by the investigating officer, working alongside neighbourhood policing colleagues, quickly established that Chahal was not a licensed taxi driver and had approached a number of other women in the city centre before targeting the victim-survivor.
The now 51-year-old, of Plessey Road, Blyth, was also captured on a trawl of CCTV footage physically picking up the victim from the ground, with the evidence gathered leading to him being charged with kidnap later that day.
Despite denying the offence, he was found guilty following a one-week trial at Newcastle Crown Court in May and remanded into custody.
Today (Thursday) he appeared before the same court where a judge handed him a seven-year prison term. He will also serve an extended licence period of three years.
Chahal was also made subject to a lifetime Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).
During the hearing, an impact statement was shared from the woman Chahal targeted, who said her “confidence, independence and sense of safety” had been significantly affected.
She said:
“Before this happened, I was a confident and sociable young woman who enjoyed spending time with my friends.
“I never imagined that something so frightening could happen to me whilst simply spending time with friends. What happened that night has changed me.”
She added:
“Since that night, I have struggled to feel safe in situations that I previously would not have thought twice about.
“The thing I struggle with most is knowing that I was vulnerable and that somebody chose to take advantage of that vulnerability.
“I was a young woman trying to get home after a night out with friends.
“Instead, I became the target of a man more than twice my age who saw my vulnerability and chose to exploit it.
“I was not seen as a person. I was seen as an opportunity.
“That is something I find incredibly difficult to come to terms with.”
The victim-survivor also spoke of her pain after missing milestones and celebrations with loved ones, as well as being unable to attend a close friend’s funeral during the criminal proceedings and instead being “forced to relive one of the worst experiences” of her life.
The woman, who suffers with anxiety and stress in the aftermath, said:
“What hurts most is that I no longer feel like the same person I was before this happened.
“I feel angry that somebody else’s choices have changed so much for me. I feel angry that I lost confidence in myself.
“I feel angry that I missed important moments with my friends because of the anxiety this has caused me. I feel angry that I now think twice about doing things that used to make me happy.”
Detective Constable Courtney Cran, who led the investigation in Newcastle’s CID, said:
“Firstly, I would like to commend the victim-survivor, who has shown immense bravery, resilience, and composure throughout the full investigation and the lengthy criminal proceedings that followed.
“Chahal is a predatory individual who deliberately targeted a lone, vulnerable young woman who was simply trying to get home safely after a night out with friends.
“He showed absolutely no regard for her welfare or the devastating impact his actions would have, repeatedly denying any wrongdoing and forcing her to relive her trauma during the trial.
“Working alongside neighbourhood policing colleagues and key partners, I was quickly able to unravel Chahal’s web of lies and present clear evidence of his intentions that evening.”
Detective Constable Cran added:
“Operation Salus exists to identify vulnerability, with officers on hand to intervene in any situations which appeared concerning or unsafe in the city centre.
“Thanks to the vigilance of officers that evening, who saw something was not quite right, they were quickly able to intervene and bring Chahal to a stop.
“The woman was safeguarded within minutes, after it became clear she had no idea who this man was and had been tricked and forced into his vehicle.
“This has been a terrifying ordeal for her, and while incidents of this nature remain rare, this case demonstrates exactly why proactive operations such as Operation Salus are so important. We regularly deploy tactics to identify anyone who is vulnerable, especially after a night out.
“While no result will ever take away the sheer impact of Chahal’s offending, I hope today’s outcome provides the victim-survivor with some sense of justice and allows her to begin moving forward now that he is set to spend a lengthy spell behind bars.
“As a Force, we’ll continue to take a proactive approach to keep people safe in our cities and towns, working together with partner agencies to crack down on suspicious activity such as fake and unlicensed taxi drivers.”