Calgary cabbie gets 4 years in prison for sexually assaulting fare
Meghan Grant | CBC News | Posted: January 31, 2017 9:29 PM | Last Updated: January 31, 2017
Prosecution had proposed Lemuel Paulos spend 5 years in prison while defence asked for 2-year sentence
A Calgary cab driver who sexually assaulted a woman he'd driven home was sentenced to four years in prison on Tuesday.
Lemuel Paulos, 40, raped the victim — whose identity is protected by a publication ban — when she was a passenger in his taxi in March 2013. He was convicted of sexual assault in April.
Crown prosecutor Karuna Ramakrishnan had asked for a five-year sentence while defence lawyer John Hooker proposed two years in custody.
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The woman — who was drunk at the time — was taking a cab home from Ranchman's.
Court heard she was hospitalized the day after the incident because of an anxiety attack and has since been diagnosed with PTSD.
She said in a victim impact statement in December that she struggles with severe depression.
Paulos testified in his own defence at the trial and said the woman threatened to scream "rape" if he did not come into her home.
Court of Queen's Bench Justice Glenda Campbell handed down the federal sentence Tuesday afternoon.