WINNIPEG — A transgender man is speaking out after he said he was sexually assaulted in a taxi.
“It is the most terrifying thing in the world to me that he knows where I live and even though he’s in custody I’m still afraid,” said the 22-year-old whose identity cannot be revealed.
He said a driver for one of the major cab companies in Winnipeg picked him up on Broadway from a friend’s house.
He asked to be taken to his home in Point Douglas but was instead driven to an alley off Main Street.
The victim said that’s where the assault occurred.
“I was giving him the benefit of the doubt, maybe thought he was new, or just didn’t know where he was going. And turns out he knew exactly what he wanted to do,” he said.
He was then dropped off at his house by the cab driver before calling police.
He said the cab driver returned days later to offer the man money in exchange for him to not pursue criminal charges.
“He was outside for about an hour just asking around trying to find me to try and bribe me into dropping the charges,” he said.
The man said while he identifies as male, the alleged assault had him reliving an old struggle, “I’ve always seen myself as male but for the first time in a long time I was forced into a position where I had to accept that I had a female body.”
However, more reminders came when he was publicly identified as female after police issued a news release about the alleged assault in which they referred to the victim as a woman.
“At no time did we have any intentions to call them or identify them in a way that wasn’t suitable to them,” said Constable Jason Michalyshyn with the Winnipeg Police Service.
Police have made an arrest in the case. A 55-year-old man has been charged with sexual assault and attempt to obstruct justice.