Taxi driver jailed at Belfast Crown Court for sex assault on teenage girl

A TAXI driver who sexually assaulted a teenage schoolgirl has been jailed for three years.

William Torbitt, from Mayfield Heights, Newtownabbey, was taking the girl to a medical appointment when he committed the offence on February 13.

A judge at Belfast Crown Court told the 39-year-old he must spend a year in jail and the rest on supervised licence conditions.

Judge Gordon Kerr QC also ordered him to sign the police sex offenders register for the rest of his life.

The court heard that after committing the assault, he took the 14-year-old schoolgirl to her appointment where she reported what had happened.

During initial police interviews he claimed nothing had happened but later pleaded guilty to a single charge of sexual activity with a child.

A defence lawyer claimed that the married father-of-two had suffered a “moment of madness” for which he was already paying a heavy price in terms of the loss of his reputation, job, liberty and marriage.

Jailing Torbitt, Judge Kerr said it was an aggravated factor that Torbitt was a taxi driver.

He said the public had a right to expect their driver to take their fares, “especially schoolchildren” to their destinations.