UBER DRIVER JAILED FOR KIDNAPPING AND SEXUAL ASSAULT IN ROCHDALE
An Uber driver kidnapped and sexually assaulted a vulnerable woman before dumping her miles away from her home.Mdsultan Mahamud subjected the woman, in her 20s, to a terrifying ordeal after he picked her up following a night out in Manchester city centre.
But instead of dropping her off at home in Salford, Mahamud, 36, kissed her then locked the doors when she rebuffed his unwanted advances.
He began driving around Manchester and reached back in the car to sexually assault her.
About half an hour after being abducted, Mahamud dumped her in Rochdale leaving her with no idea where she was, Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
A Good Samaritan helped her and called 999.
Her ordeal was made worse by the fact she'd already been the victim of a 'violent stranger rape' the year before, after being attacked while she walked home.
Mahamud, from Rochdale, has now been jailed for four-and-a-half years.
"It doesn't bear thinking about what the complainant went through over that course of time, the anguish and fear she must have suffered following her experience the year before," Judge Angela Nield said as she locked him up.
"Bad enough that it should happen, but to happen to such a young woman makes it significantly worse." The victim, who has since moved abroad, said she had put her 'trust' in Uber, and after being raped she had taken taxis rather than walking to try and keep safe.
"I put my trust in this service because I thought it would be the safest option," she said.
"I put my trust in a company who I thought would keep me safe from harm." Mahamud had kept the details of the case a secret from his heavily pregnant wife until the day he was sentenced and sent to prison.
The judge said she was an 'unintended victim' of Mahamud.
Mahamud, who is Bangladeshi and arrived in the UK in 2011, only informed his pregnant wife of his crimes shortly before he was sent to jail.
