Uber driver sexually assaulted student after driving her home

AN UBER driver sexually assaulted a passenger after driving her back to her home and asking her for a hug.

- PHILIP DEWEY

He would later sexually assault another woman after offering to give her a piggyback down some stairs.

Amanuale Mebrahtu, 28, was working as a driver when he picked up the first victim, a student who had been on a night out in Cardiff city centre.

She had made an order for a driver through Uber and the defendant was instructed to drive her to her home.

A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Tuesday heard the victim had been drinking but was not intoxicated.

During the journey, Mebrahtu asked the woman general questions and she told him she had a boyfriend, but his questions became more sexual in nature and he asked her if she wanted to “sleep around with other men”.

The victim felt uncomfortable when the defendant turned round in his seat and “searched over with his eyes”.

When they arrived at her address, Mebrahtu asked her for a hug and she agreed, thinking this would be the quickest way of getting away from him. But when the defendant hugged the victim, he groped her bottom.

She was in shock and pulled away from him.

In his sentencing remarks, Judge Matthew Porter-Bryant said Mebrahtu went on to ask the victim if he could go inside her house or if she would get back into his car.

Upon going inside her house alone, the victim noticed the defendant remained outside the property in his car for five minutes before driving off.

The sexual assault was reported to Uber and the police, but Mebrahtu sent a friend request to the victim on Snapchat, which made her feel more anxious.