A former Uber Driver in the US has been charged with raping an intoxicated passenger, then charging her $150 for vomiting in his car.
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Ahmed Elgaafary, a 27-year-old from Pennsylvania was convicted of rape of an unconscious person, sexual assault and indecent assault at a hearing on Thursday, according to News.com.au.
The alleged incident took place earlier this year after Elgaafary picked up the woman from the Valley Forge Casino Resort in Pennsylvania.
According to prosecutor in the case, Vincent Robert Cocco the trip should’ve only taken 15 minutes, but the ride share app indicted a 53-minute journey in which Elgaafary assaulted the woman in the back seat.
The woman was charged for the longer trip and an additional cleaning fee for vomiting in his car.
Elgafaary’s lawyer claimed that the sex was consensual, however he was still found guilty at trial. PSA when you’re drunk and on the way home from the casino, you can’t consent. It’s rape.
On the witness stand, Elgaafary acknowledged that the unnamed victim was drunk, but claimed that he lied about the encounter because he cheated on his wife. Yep. Cheated on his wife by raping an innocent woman. Gross.
“She should have been safe,” Cocco said. “He knew she was vulnerable. He knew she was alone. He knew she was too drunk.”
The victim claims that she doesn’t remember anything after leaving the casino at 2am, but apparently woke up the following morning with bruises and a bad feeling about the previous night. That’s when she went to the hospital for a rape kit.
I’m sure we’ve all had moments in our lives where we’ve been too drunk to form coherent thoughts and have put our trust in Uber drivers to get us home safe. That’s exactly what this woman did when the incident took place.
It’s not her fault. It’s terrifying and gross and leaves us all with an uneasy feeling in our stomachs next time we catch a ride alone.
According to Chester Country District lawyer Tom Hogan, he will be sentenced at a later date before likely being deported to Egypt.
Uber have publicly condemned the driver and he has been “permanently removed” from the platform.
