Rideshare driver blames ‘personal stress’ for raping young woman in Fitzroy

A young woman raped by a Didi driver after a night out at a Fitzroy bar says she fears she will never recover as her rapist blamed the stress of his unemployment.

Rideshare driver Abdouslam Alsharif pleaded guilty to rape and sexual assault. Picture: Facebook

A vulnerable young woman raped by a rideshare driver after a night out says she is unlikely to ever recover from the horrific assault.

Unemployed academic Abdouslam Alsharif, 52, was working as a Didi driver when he offered the then 20-year-old woman a lift home after she left a bar in Fitzroy.

The father-of-five then drove to a nearby street where he raped her.

The woman fought back tears in the County Court on Monday, as she described how she suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and avoided the area where she was attacked.

“I now struggle to trust anyone, I struggle to be alone, I’m always watching over my shoulder,” she said in her victim impact statement.

“I don’t think I’ll truly recover from what happened.”

“I just wish I was the person I used to be.”

She added she had seen comments online blaming her for the assault and was subject of a cruel meme.

Judge Liz Gaynor commended the woman for her bravery in speaking in court, adding she could not believe people could be so “hideously cruel”.

Alsharif, who pleaded guilty to rape and sexual assault, appeared via video link from prison and held his hands over his face as the woman spoke.

Rideshare driver Abdouslam Alsharif has pleaded guilty to rape and sexual assault. Picture: Facebook

His lawyer Luke Barker told the pre-sentence hearing his client’s offending was “disgraceful, primitive sexual violence”.

He said Alsharif, who has a PhD in Marine Biology, was under “significant personal stress” at the time of the assault because he wasn’t able to find work in his field.

But Judge Gaynor said there was no excuse for Alsharif’s crimes.

“It is not for men ... to take out their own emotional anguish and difficulties by the sexual assault of a young woman,” she said.

“Men cannot and must not, and if they do there will be very strong consequences.”

In the early hours of April 29, 2021, Alsharif drove alongside the woman and her friend telling them he was an Uber driver and could take them home.

The woman, who was substance affected, got in by herself before Alsharif drove to a nearby street and assaulted her for 20 minutes, ignoring her pleas for him to stop.

After the assault, the woman texted her friend “im in a scary mab czr” meaning to type “I’m in a scary man’s car” before Alsharif dropped her back at the bar.

She was later taken to hospital after her friend contacted police.

CCTV and DNA linked Alsharif linked to the crime.

Mr Barker said Alsharif had a “tumultuous” decade leading up to the assault after he was made a “persona non grata” in his native Libya following the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime.

Alsharif, who was studying in Australia on a scholarship at the time, was later granted refugee status before acquiring his doctorate and Australian citizenship in 2015.

Mr Barker said Alsharif was happily married prior to the assault and did not have a criminal history.

Alsharif, who has spent two years behind bars, will be sentenced on Friday.