Posted on the 16th December 2025 in PHTM News

BOGUS CABBIE JAILED FOR 20 MONTHS FOR ABDUCTING WOMAN IN STIRLING AND SEXUALLY ASSAULTING HER

A man who posed as a taxi driver to abduct a 22-year-old woman near a Stirling nightclub and go on to sexually assault her has been sentenced to 20 months in prison.

Mahmoud Kalawizada, a 32-year-old Syrian national, was convicted after a jury found him guilty of sexual assault and abduction, having offered "taxi services when not licensed as a taxi driver."

Falkirk Sheriff Court heard that Kalawizada, who was described by social workers as a risk to women, parked his "unmarked dark blue BMW in a loading bay next to an official taxi rank" near Stirling’s Fubar nightclub around 1am on August 14, 2022.

The victim, who was looking for a ride home, "assumed his car was a taxi because of where it was waiting" and got into the front seat after finding the rear doors "appeared to be locked."

Instead of taking her home, Kalawizada drove her toward Clackmannanshire, making two unscheduled stops.

Prosecutor Rachel Wallace, the depute fiscal, said Kalawizada "posed as a taxi driver, agreed to take the complainer home, asked for payment in the way of sexual favours, and when she refused he began to take what he wanted."

On the "traumatic" journey, he drove her to Tillicoultry, demanding oral sex at one point to settle the fare. He eventually turned into a quiet, dark residential road.

“I was terrified because it wasn’t where I lived,” the victim said.

Kalawizada stopped the car, and the woman heard a "click" she thought was the doors being child-locked. When she tried to get out but could not open the door, he stroked her hair, "tried to climb over the central console to straddle her," pulled up her skirt, and put his hand on her upper thigh.

The assault ended when the victim screamed: “I screamed as loud as I could to try to get someone’s attention. I think my loud scream scared him because I then managed to get the door open and I got out.”

Kalawizada drove off, leaving the victim to call her boyfriend, who came to collect her.

She later told police, “I couldn’t comprehend what had happened. It was very traumatic.”

CCTV footage captured a “high-pitched scream” followed by a woman’s voice “whimpering” at 1:56 am, which was played in court.

Stirling Council confirmed Kalawizada was not a licensed taxi driver.

Imposing the custodial sentence, Sheriff Craig Harris told Kalawizada: “The case is serious, involving a high level of culpability. It involved both deception and breaching the trust the complainer placed in you thinking you were a legitimate taxi driver. The offence was terrifying for the complainer.”

As Kalawizada was led to the cells, four female family members supporting him began a "continuous wailing", two kneeling, and one clinging to the back of the dock, before being asked to leave by a court officer.


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