“Devious predator” was caught on camera saying “she has no clue what happened” after sickening attack
Feb 2023
A taxi driver carried out a sickening sexual assault on his passenger after she fell asleep in the back of his vehicle.
Tugui has no previous convictions. Bernice Campbell, defending, told the court: “He was a man of good character, not only here but in Romania.
Judge Brian Cummings KC see past the lies
Tugui admitted causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent and was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault by a jury last month. Appearing via video link to HMP Liverpool, he was jailed for 12 years.
Sentencing, Judge Brian Cummings KC described him as “devious and predatory” and said: “This is a class of case which generates extreme public concern. You are someone who could swear that night was day and do it glibly and plausibly.
“You knew exactly what condition she was in. You put forward an absurd account which I will not dignify with repetition.
Lucel Tugui drove past the woman’s home and instead took her to a remote location, where he performed a series of vile acts on her. But the “devious predator” was caught out after the incident was recorded by a CCTV camera inside his car, with the footage having captured him “smugly” saying “she has no clue what happened” after dropping his victim off following his attack.
Tugui admitted causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent and was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault by a jury. Appearing via video link to HMP Liverpool, he was jailed for 12 years. Tugui was also handed a restraining order, preventing him from contacting his victim for life. Judge Cummings imposed a Lifelong Sexual Harm Prevention Order – the condition of which include a ban from working as a taxi driver – and told him to sign the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.
A trial at Liverpool Crown Court, prosecuted by Paul Becker, previously heard that she had attended a friend’s birthday party at a property in Liverpool city centre on the evening of Sunday, July 31, last year. But she “drank too much too quickly and became very drunk”, being called a taxi as others moved onwards to nearby bars.The Delta driver had instead continued past her address after she had fallen asleep and taken her to a “secluded location” in Knowsley. There, Tugui – of Maureen Walk in Fazakerley – stopped his car and switched off his engine and was then caught on camera, in what was described as “extremely disturbing” video footage, performing sex acts on the complainant and forcing her to perform a sex act.
She later told police that she had woken up during the 33-year-old’s attack but kept her eyes shut and did not move out of fear. The woman believed she was going to be raped and thought he would kill her if she stopped him.
After eventually dropping her at home, the Romanian national was captured “smugly” saying “she has no clue what happened to her” in his native tongue. Tugui, who was assisted by an interpreter in court, later claimed he had merely been “trying to wake her” for 20 minutes in the back of the taxi.
The young woman in her 20s was helped into Tugui’s taxi at around 1.30am on August 1 “in a very vulnerable position and obviously sick”. But while her journey home should have taken under half an hour to complete, she did not arrive until nearly an hour-and-a-half later.
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/taxi-driver-bragged-sleeping-passenger-26291828