Kais Dahdal: alleged fake Uber driver identified in court
A man who allegedly posed as an Uber driver in Wollongong, picking up a woman and sexually touching her without consent, has been identified.
The South Coast News
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A man who allegedly posed as an Uber driver, and picked up and sexually touched a young woman in Wollongong after a night out has been identified in court for the first time.
Syrian doctor Kais Dahdal, 34, was charged after a woman told police that a man had falsely claimed to be her Uber driver, picking her up outside the Illawarra Hotel on October 23.
It will be alleged he was not the Uber driver the woman’s friends had ordered her, but told the woman his “app was down”, according to police.
“The woman entered the car and it will be alleged the male has at that time conducted an indecent act upon the woman,” Wollongong Police Acting Inspector Jayson Joerdens said after Mr Dahdal’s arrest.
After a social media frenzy over the allegations, police opened an investigation and reviewed CCTV of the Wollongong CBD, in which they identified a Honda Accord matching the description given to them by the alleged victim.
Once they established the car’s registration, detectives were able to find the vehicle’s owner, alleged to be Mr Dahdal’s wife. She is not accused of any wrongdoing.
Police charged him with sexually touching a person without consent and driving never licenced on October 25, before laying additional charges on November 4, including take person intending to commit serious indictable offence (serious indictable offence), and an additional count of sexually touching another person without consent.
Mr Dahdal, who is being represented at Macquarie Law Group, did not appear before Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday, and his case was adjourned to January next year.
He is yet to enter pleas to the charges against him.
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