Deepak Sharma was arrested following the incident on Squamish Nation land in the early morning of Jan. 2, 2019. The trial of Sharma, the former president of the Abbotsford Hindu temple who drove for North Shore Taxi, has begun in North Vancouver provincial court. Sharma is charged with sexually assaulting a woman in his cab.

VANCOUVER – An Indo-Canadian cabbie charged with sexually assaulting a woman in his cab is now on trial for the alleged crime.

The trial of Sharma, the former president of the Abbotsford Hindu temple who drove for North Shore Taxi, has begun in North Vancouver provincial court.

Deepak Sharma was arrested following the incident on Squamish Nation land in the early morning of Jan. 2, 2019.

The victim and a friend, whose names are protected by a publication ban, were riding in Sharma’s cab, dancing as Sharma was blasting music and flickering the interior lights, North Shore News reported.

The alleged assault happened when they stopped for two minutes outside a friend’s house and the victim was alone in the cab with Sharma. She was in the front seat where, she testified, Sharma had encouraged her to sit.

Parts of the incident were captured by the cab’s onboard security cameras, which take still images every few seconds, but immediately before the alleged assault, Sharma pulled down the sun visor, blocking the lens, the victim testified.

The victim wept in court Monday as she testified about what happened next.

Sharma grabbed her left hand and tried to place it on his partially exposed genitals, she said. “I pulled my hand away and I pulled the sun visor back up. And I told him ‘I’m not like that. I don’t do things that way.’”

Her friend jumped back in the cab a few moments later and they left for the victim’s house.

The victim said she wanted to get out of the cab but she was too frightened to move.

“I was scared,” she told the court. “I was just frozen.”

After they got out of the cab, the victim told her friend, who confronted Sharma. The victim’s father called North Shore Taxi to tell them what happened and called police.

Asked how she’d been feeling since the incident, the victim simply said “upset.”

Under cross examination, Sharma’s lawyer Amandeep Sidhu questioned the victim’s memory of the incident.

Sidhu pointed to her first statement to police given the night of the assault, in which she said she did not actually touch his genitals. The lawyer also suggested to her that she had been flirting with the driver, which she denied, reported North Shore News .

The trial is scheduled to last three days before resuming in April.

Sharma, who was president of Abbotsford’s only Hindu temple, was forced to resign after his sexual assault charges.

Sharma, of Abbotsford was charged in relation to the alleged incident on Jan. 2, 2019 in West Vancouver. Const. Jeff Palmer, spokesperson for the West Vancouver Police Department (WVPD), said at the time that the alleged victim came forward in the early morning of Jan. 2.

The incident was then investigated, and Sharma was arrested on Jan. 17 and subsequently charged with sexual assault. Palmer said Sharma surrendered his West Vancouver taxi permit after receiving a revocation letter.

Sharma was the president of the Fraser Valley Hindu Cultural Society, which runs the Hindu temple on Walmsley Avenue in west Abbotsford.

In the aftermath of Sharma’s arrest, Vice-president Ashok Sharma (no relation), said that an emergency meeting was called that evening, with Deepak in attendance.

“He told us he would resign,” Ashok said.

He said Deepak confirmed the charge, but denied that he had committed any offence. Ashok said the board was shocked to hear about the accusation.

“We couldn’t believe it because he’s a good guy … We have never noticed anything like that.”

He said Deepak served a previous two-year term as president about six years ago.

This is not the first time that an individual involved with the Hindu temple has been linked to sexual improprieties.

Karam Vir, a former priest at the temple, was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison in 2013 for sexual offences involving two teenage girls.

Vir had been in Canada on a work visa and was deported back to India after completing his sentence in 2015, reported Black Press.