Value context and insight. lkm@koreatimes.co.kr
Recorded evidence saves a man from sex offender stigma
Mohammed Asif
By Lee Kyung-min
A man saved himself from sex offender suspicion with recorded evidence in London.
Mohammed Asif, 34, offset the claim of Astria Berwick, 27, that he sexually harassed her at knifepoint in his cab.
After her claim, he was arrested with handcuffs at his home. He spent a day in a cell until the police discovered her lies. She is now in a jail with 16-month-term.
Asif said that without the Samsung Galaxy S2’s voice recorder he would have been the one in jail.
The father of two said, “I was crying in the cell. I told them there was a recording on my phone.” The police played the file, and let him go free.
He finds her sentence too short for the emotional distress he’s suffered. “My son is 14 and my daughter is 8. They were crying, and asked me why I had been arrested. She should have had three or four years at the very least. Now I am terrified if I see a lady customer.”
He suspects that Berwick got mad over the taxi fare. He said that she argued £17 (29,000 won) was too expensive.
At the destination, she went to ATM to withdraw more money.
On her Facebook page, Berwick said, “I am honest as I don’t like lying (that’s probably my downfall, too honest) I enjoy a good joke (sometimes at other people’s expense).” lkm@ktimes.co.kr