Former cab driver haunted by sex-assault allegation

Charge dropped, but the man was fired from his job and convicted in court of public opinion, says his lawyer

A former cab driver who was fired after being arrested — but never formally charged — in connection with an alleged sexual assault has already been convicted and sentenced in the court of public opinion, according to his lawyer.

Randeep Sidhu was sacked by a Penticton taxi company in mid-November, just days after the victim of the alleged sexual assault took to Facebook to suggest Sidhu, who at that point had only been arrested and released on an undertaking, posed a risk to the public by virtue of his job.

That’s where things stood until Jan. 20, when Sidhu’s lawyer received a letter from Crown counsel that stated charges wouldn’t proceed because there wasn’t a substantial likelihood of conviction.

“I’m glad (the Crown) came to the decision they came to, because that was my impression as well of the file,” said, Paul Varga, who spoke on behalf of Sidhu because English is not his first language.

“But the problem is my client doesn’t have a chance to clear his name.”

The complainant alleged that on Oct. 17, she called for a taxi and was driven to a home in Penticton, where she was sexually assaulted by the driver and a second man, Sidhu, who was not on shift that day.

Mounties didn’t respond to a request for comment Friday about the status of charges against the other man, and have said little about the case, other than confirming the arrests in mid-November.

Varga said Sidhu was at the home where the assault is alleged to have occurred, but left shortly after the other cabbie and the complainant arrived.

Nonetheless, the lawyer continued, Sidhu has been vilified online.

The unwanted attention has already cost him his job as a taxi driver — and he has no interest in going back to the company after being summarily fired, according to Varga — and held up his application to work as a security guard.

“There are tools at my disposal I can use –—civil action, complaints can be made — but one of the problems with that is the damage has already been done. It just brings attention to it again,” said Varga.

Plus, “A lot of times the keyboard warriors on Facebook have nothing at stake. They don’t own anything substantial that would allow them to be sued for anything.”

It has left Sidhu in a bind and Varga calling for social media companies to crack down on those who use the services to spread false information.

“When bullies get these kinds of pulpits from which to proselytize their hatred, that pulpit needs to be taken from them. Thanks goodness that pulpit was taken from a bully south of the border, but that kind of thing needs to be done regularly on the Facebook,” said Varga.

“If we can punish drug companies for profiting off drugs that cause damage, why can’t we punish Facebook, Twitter and social media companies for the damage they cause?”