Police warning after sleeping teen 'raped' in Uber
Police have warned passengers using ride share services to watch out for each other after a teenager was allegedly raped when she fell asleep in an Uber in a late-night ride home to Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
The 17-year-old was with two friends when they were picked up by a 37-year-old Liverpool Uber driver in Sydney’s CBD about 1.30am on Sunday morning.
The driver drove them home to Bondi in Sydney’s east where the two friends got out and the 17-year-old remained in the car to be dropped in North Bondi.
Police allege the driver then sexually assaulted the girl in his car after she had fallen alseep.
“A very traumatic incident but she’s got the support of her family and police ensuring she’s being looked after,” NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Walton told reporters on Tuesday.
The commissioner urged the public to be on the lookout for suspicious activity.
“The broad advice to everyone in the community is let’s look after each other,” he said.
“If we suspect that someone might be about to commit an offence, to do something that is driven by that perpetrator behaviour, we need to look after people, report it to the police and avoid contact with those people.”
‘Predators will be caught’
Commissioner Walton warned anybody engaging in predatory behaviour would be caught.
“Whether that’s in a taxi with CCTV or an Uber or rideshare type vehicle – there is technology that is going to assist police with the investigation,” Mr Walton said.
The Uber driver was arrested in Liverpool on Monday afternoon and was charged with sexual intercourse without consent. He was granted bail to appear at Liverpool Local Court on October 25.
An Uber spokeswoman told AAP on Tuesday the allegations were “deeply upsetting”.
“As soon as we became aware of this report we immediately removed this driver’s access to the app,” she said.
Under his bail conditions, the accused is not allowed to work as a ride-share driver.
