Taxi Driver Online

Teen thought she was getting Uber to McDonald's but was subjected to 'nightmare' ordeal

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/li ... s-30422358



A teenager believed that she was getting into an Uber to take her to McDonald's but was instead abducted and sexually assaulted. Fitwi Tekeste spotted his victim alone in Liverpool city centre in the early hours after she had enjoyed a night out with friends.

The restaurant worker then convinced her that he was her taxi driver and lured her into his car under this false pretence. She was subsequently subjected to a "nightmare" ordeal over the course of nearly two hours as she was driven down the M62 and abused.

Liverpool Crown Court heard today, Thursday, that the 19-year-old had been out celebrating a friend's birthday in the city centre earlier this year. At around 1am, she left a bar on Bold Street and attempted to book an Uber to take her to meet her boyfriend at McDonald's in Huyton.

Arthur Gibson, prosecuting, described how this booking was unsuccessful however. CCTV footage then showed her on Newington, a side street leading towards Renshaw Street, while "a bit unstable on her feet".

The same video meanwhile showed Tekeste initially parked up on this road before moving his car towards Bold Street. However, he then stopped as the complainant was seen approaching the area.

She was thereafter seen to speak to Tekeste before walking away again and waiting on a street corner while looking at her phone. But the 29-year-old, of Park Road in Toxteth, parked up again and exited his car in order to converse with her over the course of several minutes.

The teen would ultimately follow him back to his vehicle, initially attempting to enter the rear before sitting in the front passenger seat. Tekeste's car then left the area.

Mr Gibson said: "What seems to have happened is that she agreed to allow him to take her home. When they get to the car, he convinces her to go and sit in the front seat. She is still under the impression, however, that this is her Uber."

During the course of the subsequent journey, Tekeste repeatedly pulled over at the side of the road and "tried to get her to kiss him". He also placed his hand on her thigh and "moved it up towards her crotch", as well as taking her hand and placing it on his penis over his clothing "more than once".

Instead of taking her to McDonald's as requested, the defendant continued eastbound along the M62 as far as Warrington. Tekeste eventually returned to Liverpool and dropped the woman off at her partner's home shortly before 3am, nearly two hours after she had first entered his car.

The court was read a series of texts which the victim sent to her boyfriend during this time. One read: "Help me. My Uber is wanting a kiss. Please come out."

Another message sent eight minutes later added "please be outside when I see you, I'm so scared". He also called her while she was in the vehicle, during which time she sent further texts saying: "Stay on the phone please. I'm so scared. He's trying to get me to end the call."

Tekeste was arrested at the address in question after the woman's boyfriend alerted the police, having been able to track her movements via her mobile phone throughout the incident. After being detained, he replied: "I'm surprised. I'm stressed. I don't know the address. That's the problem. I'm tired. I'm working 12 hours. I don't know the location. That's the problem. She said 'please help me'."

As he was being transported into custody at Belle Vale Police Station, he added: "I'm an Uber driver. She said come in car but no money. She said pick me, I picked her. It's not my fault. I don't know who the girl is. She told me to go left, left, left on the highway. Pick me to my boyfriend's."

Tekeste subsequently made no comment when interviewed by detectives. Mr Gibson added: "The crown submit that he undoubtedly did lead her to believe that he was a taxi driver. The crown submit that that amounts to an abuse of trust. She was a lone female. She had clearly been drinking."

In a statement which was read out to the court on her behalf, the complainant said she was "angry that she couldn't do anything to prevent it and angry that it happened to her" and was left "asking herself why all of this happened". She added: "I feel an impending sense of doom all the time. I get anxious all the time.

"I didn't realise how much of an impact this would have on me until I started to think about the future I was building until this happened. This incident has ruined my career and my life. It makes me angry and sad. I don't feel like I'll ever be able to get in a taxi. The thought of taking a taxi makes me so anxious."

Tekeste has no previous convictions. Paul Wood, defending, told the court that his client had worked as a kitchen porter at Maray on Bold Street for around a year prior to the incident, with the married man having finished his shift at the restaurant shortly beforehand.

He added: "It was always his case that he had been working beforehand. He was not laying in wait. I am not going to play down what this defendant did. This defendant must have been targeting someone who was vulnerable. We have a young lady at night who has consumed alcohol.

"It is quite clear that, when she got into the defendant's car, she thought it was some form of Uber or taxi. The facts of this case would be an absolute nightmare for any father who has a daughter."

Mr Wood said his client had been granted a five-year leave to remain in the UK back in 2021, telling the court: "He is from Eritrea. It is a military dictatorship. His parents died when he was young. His dad was killed at war when he was seven or eight. His mum died through disease.

"Since nine or 10 years of age, he has had no parents. He has been brought up by his grandmother. From what I can tell, it appears to be a very basic education system he has been educated in.

"Throughout his youth, from being 11 to 19, he has had to work to support his family, who were extremely poor. He worked on a farm to help to support and feed his family. He described being brought up in a hut with two rooms and no bathroom.

"He left his country due to forced conscription in the military, which can be for anything between 10 to 15 years and is paid very modestly. He describes the regime as being non-democratic, with no elections and no freedom of speech. That is why he did not want to stay in the country, fighting for a regime with very little moral compass."

Tekeste admitted one count sexual assault, with a further count of kidnap being ordered to lie on the file. Appearing in the dock wearing a grey prison issue tracksuit and assisted by an interpreter, he was jailed for 45 months.

Sentencing, Judge Neil Flewitt KC said: "She was vulnerable because she was alone in the city centre late at night and because she was affected by the alcohol which she had drank that evening. You saw that she was alone and vulnerable and you decided to take advantage of the situation.

"She mistakenly thought that you were her taxi driver. Whether you put that idea in her mind or took advantage of her misunderstanding does not matter, because you deceived her and encouraged or allowed her to get into your car believing that she would be safe with you.

"You did not take her home. You took her on a journey that lasted approximately two hours, going far beyond where she wanted to go. During the course of that journey, you repeatedly sexually assaulted her. She must have been terrified, fearing that something far worse might happen to her.

"You told the author of the pre-sentence report that she initiated any sexual contact and that anything that happened was consensual. That could not have been anything further from the truth.

"The impact on her has been profound. I have had read to me a lengthy and moving victim personal statement. It can be summarised in one expression that she uses, that she feels an impending sense of doom all of the time. You have shown no understanding of what you have done or the harm that it has caused and have no remorse for your actions.

"She trusted you to take her home safely, and you abused that trust by sexually assaulting her. You deliberately targeted a particularly vulnerable victim. This was a particularly long period of abduction.

"In mitigation, you have never previously been before these courts. You come from a particularly difficult and traumatic background and you have worked hard in the time that you have been in this country."

Tekeste was also handed a restraining order banning him from contacting his victim for seven years. He will be required to sign the sex offenders' register for life.

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