“This is my first time in jail and it will be my last, I promise you,” Lulzim (Leon) Jakupaj told a Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court judge Wednesday afternoon.
Jakupaj, 34, stood when asked by Justice Rosalie McGrath if he had anything to say at the end of his sentencing hearing. The former cabbie, who was convicted in January of sexually assaulting two female passengers in the spring of 2016, also took the opportunity to repeatedly point out he has been in jail for 17 months and has been surrounded by female prison officials, guards, nurses and teachers, “with no cameras” and no issues.
“I truly feel sorry for those girls and whatever they have gone through,” Jakupaj told the court. “I’ve been working as hard as possible and I did learn my lessons and I’ve been trying to take any programs they can give me.”
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Prosecutor Dana Sullivan argued for a prison term of between 2 ½ and three years and a lifetime sex offender registration for Jakupaj, whom she said abused a position of trust when he committed the assaults while on duty as a driver with City Wide Taxi. Both young women had relied on Jakupaj to get them home safely, she said.
“When Mr. Jakupaj was driving the cab, he was the person in control at all times,” Sullivan said. “He was in control of who to pick up and where they drove. He could choose who he wanted to be his victim, and he chose young women who were under the influence of alcohol.”
Sullivan told the judge, “We have to deter like-minded individuals, not only general members of the public but members of the public who are in similar positions of trust.”
Defence lawyer Amanda Summers argued for a total jail sentence of between six and 20 months, noting Jakupaj is seeing a psychiatrist and working as a garbage collector in prison.
Summers acknowledged the serious nature of Jakupaj’s crimes — and the need to send a message to the public to this effect — but said his assaults on the women would be considered on the lower end of the seriousness scale.
“Sexual assault could be anything from a kiss to full-on intercourse,” Summers said. “When someone hears sexual assault, they might automatically think intercourse. I just want to point out there’s a range.”
Jakupaj assaulted the first woman after picking her up downtown and driving her to her home in Paradise. After pulling into her driveway, he grabbed her by the back of the neck and forcibly kissed her, thrusting his tongue into her mouth. The woman, 24, pushed him away and got out of the car, and Jakupaj drove away.
He assaulted the other woman, 19, after driving her and a group of her friends home to Mount Pearl after a night out, then inviting himself in. The woman was coming out of a basement bathroom when Jakupaj pinned her against the wall, forcibly kissed her, pressed his forearm across her throat, touched her outside her clothes and pulled her pants partly down.
Jakupaj, who is a Canadian citizen but grew up in war-torn Kosovo, served as a child soldier for three years and came to Canada in 2007, Summers said. He had no criminal record until last spring, when he was convicted of breaking into a home after driving another female passenger in May 2016. He was sentenced to four years in jail as a result.
In that incident, Jakupaj had given a 22-year-old woman a ride to Kilbride from downtown. Minutes after she went inside the home, he followed her and was caught by her ex-boyfriend, who noticed him peeking in through the bedroom’s French door.
McGrath will sentence Jakupaj on the sexual assaults April 25.
Twitter: @tara_bradbury
