Taxi driver to go to trial over alleged grope of radio star Jay-Jay Harvey

Baljeet Singh, pictured leaving court today, is accused of groping radio host Jay-Jay Harvey in his taxi last year. Photo / Dean Purcell

A taxi driver will go to trial over allegedly indecently assaulting radio host Jay-Jay Harvey in his cab.

Baljeet Singh, 28, appeared in the Auckland District Court today and maintained his not guilty plea to one charge of indecent assault.

The West Auckland man was arrested and charged over the incident with the former host of The Edge breakfast show in his taxi on October 1 last year.

He has earlier entered a not guilty plea and elected trial by jury at an early court appearance.

Today, before Judge Russell Collins a trial date was set for November this year.

Jay-Jay Harvey alleges she was indecently assaulted by her taxi driver. Photo / Doug Sherring

After the alleged assault, Harvey, now hosting More FM's drive show with Jason Gunn, gave her version of the incident on Facebook.

She said she was groped by Singh after leaving a bar in Ponsonby.

"I tried to get into a cab from a company I knew, but the driver wouldn't take me because my ride was only 3 or 4km long and he had been waiting a while, so he told me to get into the one behind him," she wrote.

"The driver was very forward with his conversation with me and asked a lot of personal questions which I tried to answer without giving too much away.

"He kept asking me if he could touch my breasts and kept holding my hand which I promptly let go of each time.

"He was asking if I would be his girlfriend and I was feeling uncomfortable and nervous."

Taxi driver Baljeet Singh runs away from the Auckland District Court after noticing media. Photo / Dean Purcell

Harvey claimed she was laughing at Singh to "make him assume" she thought he was joking.

But he kept grabbing her hand and talking about her breasts, she wrote.

"He told me he just wanted to touch them.

"We pulled up outside my apartment block and he told me he would let me off my $17 fare if I would hook up with him and then he reached over and started fondling my boobs.

"I pushed his hand away and said no and tried to get him to take my eftpos card, which he eventually did.

"But he wasn't taking no for an answer and got out of the car to follow me across the road to my flat. 'I'm coming in with you,' he said to me. 'No you're not,' I told him back and I walked as quickly as I could."

Harvey said she swiped her access card to get into her building, and "bolted up the stairs".

Singh was only a couple of metres behind her but she managed to get inside and shut him out, she wrote.

"I got inside safely and watched out the window as he stood in the middle of the street looking up trying to figure out which flat I was in," she said.

"Then he got back into his cab and drove off.

"What a creep. Did he drive taxis for the purpose of preying on drunk girls?"

Harvey said she was shaking from the incident and feared Singh was "going to force himself upon me".

The radio host, despite later saying she regretted posting about the incident on social media, went to police with her complaint.

She said she did not recognise which company Singh worked for but it was listed on her bank statement.