X case offender is reported accused of sexual assault while driving taxi

A garda spokeswoman yesterday would neither confirm nor deny reports that the man at the centre of the 1992 X case was again under Garda investigation following allegations of sexual assault.

The claim was made by a 14-year-old girl, a passenger in the taxi the man now drives for a living.

Legal and other sources said the man under investigation was the same man who figured in the X case.

The disclosure that the man was being investigated over allegations that he sexually assaulted the girl while driving her home prompted a demand yesterday for immediate Government action to ensure that convicted sex offenders cannot obtain licences to work as taxi-drivers.

The Fine Gael spokesman on health and children, Mr Alan Shatter, said nobody using taxis should be at risk of sexual assault.

He called on the Ministers for Justice and the Environment "to state how this scandalous situation has arisen" and to take immediate action to ensure no convicted sex offenders may secure PSV (Public Service Vehicle) licences entitling them to drive taxis.

Mr Shatter pointed out that Garda and Carriage Office checks are supposed to ensure that persons who obtain such licences are of good character.

The disclosure would astonish many Dubliners and cause grave alarm and concern, he said. "No convicted sex offender should be allowed to drive a taxi. Parents must be assured their teenage daughters travelling late at night in cabs are not at risk and all female passengers are assured of their safety."

The National Taxi Drivers' Union said the X case man was the second person of whom it was aware who was convicted of sexual assault and who subsequently secured a PSV licence. NDTU spokesman Mr Vincent Kearns said the union was aware that a number of other convicted criminals were also driving cabs.

The X case dominated headlines in 1992 when it emerged a 14-year-old girl was pregnant by the man, who was a neighbour of her family. The State secured a High Court injunction to prevent her travelling to Britain for an abortion but the order was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court, which ruled that abortion was legal in circumstances where there was a real risk to the life of the mother, including a risk that she would commit suicide if forced to continue with the pregnancy.

The man involved was ultimately charged in connection with the offence and sentenced in 1995 to 14 years. The sentence was reduced on appeal to four years and the man was freed in 1997.

Although convicted, the man's identity could not be publicly disclosed because to do so could lead to identification of his victim.

Since then, the man, now aged 50, has been working as a taxi-driver. It is now claimed that, while driving home another 14-year-old girl, he made a number of lewd suggestions to her and twice assaulted her in the course of the journey. The girl claims he drove the car into a secluded road but she managed to escape there.

The girl told her parents about the incident and they reported it to the Garda. The matter was investigated and a file has been sent to the DPP.