Sydney Uber driver Mohamad Pili-Bake charged with sexual assault

An Uber driver allegedly raped a young woman after she had finished work in the early hours of the morning in Sydney’s Inner West.

The alleged sexual assault occurred on May 5.

An Uber driver allegedly raped a young woman after she had finished work in the early hours of the morning in Sydney’s Inner West.

The woman aged in her 20s, was allegedly collected by Mohamad Pili-Bake around 7am outside a business on Sunday, May 5.

Police claim the 48-year-old driver touched the woman inappropriately during the trip, before he drove the car to a nearby park where he allegedly raped her.

After dropping her off in a nearby suburb, the woman immediately reported the alleged attack to police, and attended a local hospital.

The woman had finished work in the early hours of the morning before calling the Uber.

Five days later NSW Police arrested the Uber driver at a home on McCrossin Ave in Birrong in Sydney’s west, before taking him to Bankstown Police Station where he was charged.

He was refused bail and faced Parramatta Local Court on May 11, before being remanded in custody.
No pleas have been entered.

Uber driver Mohamad Pili-Bake allegedly picked up the woman in Sydney’s Inner West before sexually assaulting her earlier this month. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jenny Evans

When applying to become a Uber driver applicants must lodge a criminal-background check before they are eligible to operate.

They also have to get a Passenger Transport Licence Code issued by Service NSW.

For the alleged rape last week, Pili-Bake has been charged with having “sexual intercourse without consent and sexually touch another person without consent”, a NSW Police spokesman told The Daily Telegraph.

He will face Burwood Local Court on July 10.

While there have been multiple instances of men masquerading as rideshare drivers being charged with sexual offences in NSW, the only other publicly reported instance of rideshare rape in Sydney was in 2018, when Uber driver Onur Dedeoglu raped a 17-year-old passenger who fell asleep in the back seat of his car.

The 39-year old was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years jail for the attack, where he was hired to take three school friends home with two males getting out at Bondi leaving their female class mate to be dropped at another address.

He then turned off his driver app, climbed into the back seat of the vehicle and raped the teenager.

Uber driver Onur Dedeoglu (left) raped a 17-year-old passenger in 2018.

NSW District Court Judge Nicole Noman was damning when sentencing Dedeoglu when found guilty of sexual intercourse without consent and two counts of assault with an act of indecency.

“The victim was asleep and unable to protect herself,’’ the judge said during sentencing.

“She placed herself in a position of trust and Dedeoglu took advantage of the situation.”

An Uber spokesman said all prospective Uber driver-partners undergo a thorough screening process in accordance with Australian law before gaining access to the Uber app.
“As soon as we were made aware of this horrific incident we removed the driver partner’s access to the app immediately and permanently,’’ the spokesperson said.

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