Uber driver Mohammad Niaz sentenced for exposing himself to passengers in Koonawarra
A married father exposed himself to a teenage couple in his Uber because he was “trying to be part of the party” in the back seat, a court has heard.
Illawarra Star
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An Uber driver exposed himself to a teenage couple after asking them if they wanted to have a “threesome,” a court has heard.
Mohammad Rashid Niaz, 63, pleaded guilty to carrying out a sexual act towards another person without consent and was sentenced in Wollongong Local Court on Wednesday.
Agreed facts tendered to court said the Lake Heights man was working as an Uber driver when he picked up a 17-year-old girl and her boyfriend from a Koonawarra house on February 25.
During the trip, Niaz tried to talk to the girl in a sexualised way and asked the couple if they would like to “f--k and have a threesome”.
Niaz pulled his penis out of his pants and held it in his hand while the boyfriend took a photo on his phone.
Niaz dropped the couple off at the boyfriend’s home and the girl reported the exposure to her family.
On March 7, the couple were again collected by Niaz and the girl took note of his registration plate.
During the journey, they briefly stopped at 7/11 where the girl called her mother before she returned to the car. The girl’s mother contacted police who arrived at an address the same time as Niaz and the couple.
Niaz – who has been married for 25 years and had four children – told police he picked up the couple 10 days prior and dropped them off.
In court, Niaz’s lawyer Patrick Schmidt said his client assumed he had picked the couple up from a brothel because there was a red light outside the house.
Mr Schmidt said Niaz thought the couple were talking in a sexualised way towards him and they spoke of “partying” and asked about the size of his penis before he exposed himself.
The court heard Niaz had suffered additional punishment alleging the girl’s mother “blackmailed” him, telling him she would have the charges withdrawn if he paid $20,000.
The court heard Niaz told the mother he could not pay and eventually agreed to give the mother his car so she would “withdraw the complaint”.
Mr Schmidt said the car was gone for 15 days and returned with thousands of dollars worth of damage.
The court heard those allegations were reported to police but were denied by the mother and daughter, with no further action taken.
Mr Schmidt said Niaz, who arrived in Australia from Pakistan in 1990, was no longer working as an Uber driver, adding he was now “devoting himself to his religion and doing meaningful tasks” at his mosque.
Magistrate Claire Girotto said what Niaz did was “not appropriate behaviour”.
“There is the suggestion you were trying to be part of the party but you can’t be, because you are the Uber driver,” she said.
“Regardless of what was going on in the back of the taxi, that was not the way to behave, you are not a part of it. You are paid to drive.”
Niaz was convicted and sentenced to an community correction order where he must be of good behaviour for 18 months.
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