The fake Uber driver demanding money and sexual demands
'I knew I wasn’t in the right situation’
Picture this. It’s late and you’ve had too much to drink. You decided to call it a night and pull out your phone and order an Uber. You leave the bar and walk into the cold Dunedin air and see the awaiting ride.
This incident unfolded a month ago, and the person I interviewed, who I’m not going to identify, had been drinking at an Octagon bar on a Saturday night.
She had booked an Uber, and went outside to wait.
That is when a car pulled up and the driver asked: “Are you waiting for an Uber?”
“And I just jumped in.”
She described the driver as a Middle Eastern man aged in his forties, who was driving a late model white car.
She sits in the rear seat and the man activates the locks to the car and drives off.
“He goes, okay, where are we going?”
“That’s when I clicked . . . I said, ‘you should know my address’.”
She told him she lived ‘just up the hill’.
The woman looked for all the normal stickers and identification details in the car.
“I looked for the stuff I would normally see . . . but it wasn’t there.”
The woman said she was intoxicated, but “I knew I wasn’t in the right situation”.
She never gave him her actual address, but gave him directions to an area near her house which she could access safely.
But when the man pulled over he told her: “You have to pay me.”
“But you’re an Uber, I’ve already paid,” she replied.
He disagreed, telling her that the ride was not through Uber. That’s when the late night ride took a darker turn.
“I want to see your breasts,” he told her.
The woman was upfront: “Bugger off mate.”
He added, “No, you have to pay me . . . show me your breasts instead”.
She told him to unlock the vehicle, and he refused, repeating his demands about payment and touching her breasts.
It was then when he tried to reach at her, and she went into her handbag and pulled out some lipstick, and threatened him.
“If you touch me I’m wiping lipstick all over your seat,” she told him.
The woman told me she had seen or read somewhere that oils from lipstick can get into the fabrics and “they are a bitch to get out”.
But again the man insisted she paid him or she showed him her breasts, but as he did so he unlocked the door. She seized her chance and told him he had no meter and was not a proper taxi service, as she left the vehicle.
But the driver also got out of the vehicle, demanding payment again.
“No. Fuck off,” she told him.
Because of where she told him to park, the driver was faced with a choice - either follow her or leave his car on a blind corner.
As he returned to his car to park it somewhere else, the woman ran and hid nearby, “tucked away into a dark space”.
She was relieved to return home safely.
“I made the error in the beginning, but I’m a 50-year-old woman and I’ve been treated worse by men in my life, so I was able to extract myself safely.”
The following week she warned security and bar staff about the man, and later spotted the same vehicle being driven around the Octagon.
She was aware of another victim, who did not want to take it any further,
But she wanted a safety message out there for other women about “a sex pest . . . a creep”.
“If we can help one girl out there.”
Dunedin Police were aware of the incident, and the victim now had the details of a senior detective.
“From time to time we receive concerning reports, like the one you are aware of, and we obviously prioritise these types of investigations due to the high risk they present to our community,” Detective Sergeant Hamish Barrons said.
Members of the public were urged to report these crimes as soon as possible, to minimise the chance of any potential reoffending.
In December 2021 Dunedin police worked with Waka Kotahi to target unregulated taxi services operating through Facebook sites, that included uncovering drivers with concerning criminal histories and those without the proper P endorsements.
Police urged the public to only use reputable taxi service providers. Those drivers had been vetted by Waka Kotahi and carry the required P endorsement. Those vehicles also met the minimum safety standards.
Travelling in groups, and using a reputable taxi service were recommended for passengers.
The lure of a cheaper taxi ride from a stranger just isn’t worth taking the risk, he said.
I got this statement from Uber:
“At Uber, we encourage all riders to familiarise themselves with the steps to take before entering a vehicle. We provide driver photos and number plates in the app so riders can confirm it’s the right person picking them up before getting in. If the driver doesn’t match the photo or number plate, we encourage riders to report it to Uber right away so we can take action.
“We also continuously build cutting-edge technology and features to improve safety, and users can access these in the Safety Toolkit in the app. These advances in safety are important - but for them to be effective, riders need to be in the right car."
I’d like to thank her for sharing her story, and if anyone has experienced something similar don’t hesitate to email me at hamish.mcneilly@stuff.co.nz
ICYMI I wrote two recent stories worth checking out: one involved a runaway car (which was always parked outside my work), rolling into the electorate office of Dunedin-based National list MP, Michael Woodhouse.
I also wrote a bizarre story about a woman visiting businesses in Invercargill, and dropping off a USB flash drive and a cryptic note.
If you know any more about the USB, hit me up at hamish.mcneilly@stuff.co.nz
If you’re heading to Christchurch these school holidays, I would recommend catching Te Rā - the only known customary Māori sail in existence.
The more than 200-year-old taonga has been held in the collection of the British Museum, but from July 8 to October 23 it will be on display as part of a free exhibition at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū.
It will later be displayed at Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum between November 2023 and May 2024.
It’s a good time to name-check a local who has worked on this project, Dr Catherine Smith. You can read about Te Rā here.
I’ve talked in these pages before about the increasing movement of historical items, whether it be temporary or permanent.
We saw that at Tūhura Otago Museum, which returned six items – stone knives, an adze and a boomerang – last year, with more items likely.
My tickets finally arrived for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, and after I eventually recalled my multiple password combinations, I was able to download the tickets to the FIFA app. Phew. I paid $300 for our family of four to attend three games, very reasonable when compared with other sporting events at the stadium. I’m looking at you, All Blacks.
I bought them before some of the teams were confirmed, but two of the three will be blockbuster games, while the other could trump them in terms of importance.
New Zealand v Switzerland on Sunday July 30 is going to be great. Could be a pivotal game to qualify for the knockout stages,
I’m also heading to Netherland v Portugal, and the opening game in Dunedin, Phillipines v Switzerland, which has major ramifications for the key Football Ferns’ match.
On Friday I had a chat with Grant Robertson at Tahuna Park, he was there to check out some of the progress on the ground. It looked great.
The ground has been upgraded with new turf and lights, and the shitty old stadium/changing rooms have been transformed (complete with overhead heating panels!!), alongside other city training facilities as part of a $1.5 million development.
That is going to be the real legacy of the tournament, get ready Dunedin.
And also get ready for the Nuggets’ penultimate home game this Sunday. It seems a shame that the finals aren’t played at home courts.
Here is a video from Marlin’s Dreaming, with a few Dunedin locations featuring.
The band will play at Dive on July 21.
But I had to end this week’s newsletter on a new track from George D Henderson’s new band, The New Existentialists.
Check it out:
A truly strong woman coming forward and sharing her story, I hope this helps for someone else. Let's hope this predator is removed from society and helped.
Great choice of music 🎶
Thanks, and thankful she got through it relatively unscathed. Just another reminder to us all to check the rego ...which I guess we all do when sober. He should be easy enough to find, even for under-resourced police.