A councillor has defended his decision to allow a convicted rapist to keep his taxi operator’s licence – as a Scottish council comes under increasing pressure over the controversial decision.
David Brown, 50, was sentenced to six years and nine months in May for sexually assaulting an 18-year-old woman after she entered his car as a passenger.
Four councillors have now resigned from Highland Council, while a fifth has been suspended from the SNP, after it emerged that six male councillors voted for him to retain his operator’s licence.
Four female councillors on the licensing committee voted against it.
A petition has now gathered thousands of signatures, calling for the council to immediate revoke his licence. The decision will now go before the entire council at a date yet to be determined.
After criticism of the decision, the chairman Sean Kennedy along with John Grafton, Duncan Macpherson and Willie MacKay have resigned from the committee.
Independent councillor MacKay has also resigned as a councillor, while Grafton has been suspended by the Scottish Liberal Democrat group on Highland Council. The SNP have also suspended a fifth councillor, Chris Birt, after he voted to take no action on Brown’s licence.
In comments to The Independent, Mr Birt said he voted to remove his taxi driver licence but allowed the operator’s licence to continue, in order for Brown’s wife to continue driving.
He said: “The Committee was presented with the case of a taxi driver with a personal taxi driver’s licence and an operator’s licence as well; however, this taxi driver was in prison, having been convicted of rape, a very serious offence. His wife was present, who had been carrying on the taxi business as according to the operator’s licence, which had six months to run, after which she could renew it in her own name.”
He added: “Applying my criteria as set out above, to allow the operator’s licence to continue for its final six months, seemed to me to be the most just way to proceed, allowing the wife to continue to support herself, while offering no possible additional danger to the public.
“I stand by that decision, as it was lawful, ensured public safety, and was just. I know that some of my colleagues on the Committee felt similarly – but they can speak for themselves. Others disagreed, which is of course of their right.”
“I must emphasise that I am as disgusted by this criminal taxi driver’s crimes as is anyone else, and all sex crimes horrify me utterly.
“But, apart at an emotional level, these matters have nothing whatsoever to do with our vote to protect the criminal’s wife from punishment as well as her husband, which would have prevented her from earning her living for the next six months, until the operator’s licence ends – when she could renew it in her own name.”
A trial at the High Court in Stirling heard that Brown had picked up the 18-year-old in December 2023 and was due to drive her from a night out in Inverness to her Highland village.
However he pulled into a remote lay-by near a farm and sexually assaulted her, before leaving her in sub-zero temperatures.
He had denied rape and insisted it was a consensual sexual encounter, but was found guilty by a jury after a three-day trial.
Rape and Sexual Abuse Service Highland (RASASH) and Rape Crisis Scotland condemned the committee’s decision.
RASASH chief executive Romy Rehfeld said: “The lack of transparency about why this decision was made has led to women and girls feeling less safe – particularly when taxis are something women are actively told to use to keep themselves safe at night.
“Irrespective of the reasoning, the decision to continue the operating licence of a convicted rapist – who used his profession to attack a teenage girl – sends a stark message that other interests are deemed more important than those of survivors, and it erodes public confidence that institutions will make decisions which prioritise the safety of women and girls.
“Acts of sexual violence rarely have just one victim. They cause immense harm to the individual, families, and the wider community.
“It is essential that more men play a role in tackling gender-based violence, including holding perpetrators to account, and understanding the wider impact of a decision like this.”
