An Uber driver has been jailed for 18 months after sexually assaulting a young woman in his car.
Aliriza Kurt, of Blackstock Road, Finsbury Park, picked up the victim from Brixton Tube station at 11.15pm on May 8 last year.
The 24-year-old victim got in to the car and during the journey, Kurt, 42, leaned across and touched her, asking her “are you comfortable with this?”
The woman escaped the vehicle and was able to call the police. Kurt was arrested at 3.50am the following day.
He was today sentenced to 18 months in prison after being found guilty at Inner London Crown Court and was made the subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Under the order, Kurt is not allowed to have females, except family members, in any vehicle driven by him and cannot apply to be or work as a private hire vehicle driver in England and Wales.
He also had his car seized and will be placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years.
Siwan Hayward, Transport for London’s deputy director of enforcement and on-street operations, said: “This victim’s bravery in reporting this offence to the police has helped put this sex offender behind bars, preventing him from preying on any other vulnerable women.
“Our TfL funded resources within the MPS Cab Enforcement Unit work every week to apprehend those who commit cab related sexual offences, and we will continue to work with the police to push for the strongest convictions available to stop incidents like this happening again.
“If you ever experience unwanted sexual behaviour, report it to the police; you will always be taken seriously and the incident will be fully investigated.”
An Uber spokesperson said: “As soon as we learned about this shocking incident we immediately stopped this licensed private hire driver from using the Uber app and offered our full assistance to both the police and the passenger.
“We welcome this conviction.”
Source: Evening Standard
