A Melbourne taxi driver who covered his camera before raping a female passenger and asking if she "liked it" has been jailed for at least five years and three months.
Shibu Paul, 46, picked up the 23-year-old woman in southeast Melbourne early one morning in June 2018.
She had been out drinking with friends at a 21st and then a football/netball club function before an off-duty Australian Federal Police officer hailed a taxi for her.
Paul reached back and touched the woman's chest as she was slumped in the back seat and then covered the taxi's camera.
He pulled over and touched her chest again before telling her to get in the front seat to put her address in his GPS.
The driver digitally raped her, asked her if she "liked it".
Paul then asked if she was happy before driving the 23-year-old to her parents' house.
He asked for a kiss on arrival but she ran inside.
Paul on Wednesday faced the Victorian County Court, where he was sentenced to a total of seven years and six months in prison for rape and four counts of sexual assault.
He must spend at least five years and three months in prison before being eligible for parole.
Judge Clare Quin said members of the public, particularly women, are "entitled to feel safe in a taxi after a night out".
"She was fearful from the time you first reached over to her," Judge Quin told Paul.
"You were aware of her vulnerable state and took advantage for your own sexual pleasure."
In a statement to the court the woman said all her friends were "moving forward with their exciting lives".
"I feel that my life got stuck there that night - I really miss the spark I had for life," she said.
Paul has already served 75 days in pre-sentence detention.
