12 years for Uber rapist

An Uber driver who raped a passenger and took selfies of them together as the woman lay helpless on the back seat of his car was jailed for 12 years for ruining his victim’s life.

Muhammad Durrani, 38, attacked the 27 year-old after picking her up outside a live music club in Clapham, south London.

He followed his victim out of the car when they reached her home and carried her back to his Toyota where he performed a sex act before raping her.

Durrani claimed the woman hugged and kissed him, then went back to the car and grabbed at him after stripping for sex, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Judge David Tomlinson told the rapist: ‘I have carefully read the victim impact statement and it comes as no surprise that you have ruined her life.

‘It has affected all aspects both social and professional – the harm that you did that night was incalculable.

‘My impression of her was of someone who looked as though she had been immeasurably hurt, she looked and sounded really quite struck by what had happened.

‘I think for her to come here to further think back to that night was for her a tremendously distressing experience.

‘She fell asleep in the back of your cab and it was a warm enough evening for her to be wearing an all-in-one playsuit.

‘By then it must have been obvious to you that your customer was almost paralytically drunk.

‘Under the pretext of offering help you got out of your cab and approached her, that ought to have been the end of it but you had by then lost all sense of self control.

‘You lifted her bodily and carried her back to your car, you laid her on the back seat, on her back, and disturbed her clothing satisfactorily to penetrate her vagina with your tongue.

‘Then you raped her…and afterwards you took selfie images of the two of you side-by-side.’

The woman was ‘very very drunk’ when she got into Durrani’s car.

She had been with girlfriends in London Bridge and Clapham before ordering the Uber taxi and had drunk around ‘six medium or large glasses of wine’ throughout the evening.

‘I remember thinking I was feeling quite drunk, I need to go home because I thought that was the safest option,’ she said.

The woman said she was ‘confused’ and ‘bewildered’ when Durrani picked her up and didn’t shout out.

‘I don’t remember anything being said, I just remember being scared’, she said.

‘I was obviously very, very drunk, and he was the sober driver who picked me up and took me to the back of his car without my wanting him to.

‘He picked me up, he carried me to his car, I ended up in the back of his car and he performed oral sex and I didn’t remember ever giving any formal consent for that.’

‘The next thing I remember is just lying there. He moved my playsuit to one side and started performing oral sex on me.’

Durrani then asked if she would give him oral sex and lowered his trousers to expose himself.

The victim said she ‘kept her mouth shut’ and tried to move her head to the side as he kissed her.

She said she managed to escape after he became distracted and looked out of the window, jurors heard.

‘He backed off and that’s when I decided to put my playsuit back on.

‘He got up looked outside the window as if to make sure that no-one was there.’

Durrani admitted having sex but said it was consensual after he succumbed to her advances.

He said: ‘She went into my car herself. She was right outside her front door. She hugged me with her own free will. I tried to avoid her a few times.

‘I tried to control myself for some time but how far could I have controlled myself?’

He claimed the woman was ‘making noises like she was enjoying it’.

The court also heard Durrani took pictures of his victim’s body and of them lying together.

He told police he deleted the photos because he was a ‘family man’ and his wife might find them.

His lawyer, Marie Spenwyn, said: ‘I ask your honour to consider the one off that really, on a fair consideration, that it appears that it was.

‘And the wider impact culturally for Mr Durrani and his family – there will always be a reminder beyond what this court will impose today.’

Duranni will return to Pakistan after his time in jail and family members submitted character references on his behalf.

Durrani, of Oakdale Road, Streatham, southwest London, was jailed for twelve years and his wife watched on as he hung his head and was led to the cells.

The judge also imposed an indefinite restraining order preventing him from contacting the victim and he cannot work for a taxi company in any capacity.
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