The Court of Appeal has reduced a jail sentence imposed on a Palmerston North taxi driver who was found guilty of sexually violating a woman passenger in 2004.

However it has upheld Sharif Sadiq Ali's conviction on that charge and charges of kidnapping and indecent assault.

In a decision issued today the Court of Appeal has cut two years from the jail term imposed on Ali for the sexual violation, reducing it to five-and-a-half years.

It also reduced his minimum non-parole period from four-and-a-half years to two years nine months.

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