Women’s advocacy group, Women For Change, has taken to social media to report a harrowing case of brutality and attempted rape of a woman Uber passenger in the Cape Town CBD.
At around 9.35pm, on Thursday, November, 14, 27-year-old Chera-lee le Roux was picked up from her complex by an Uber driver with what she now assumes were false identity details to travel to Greenpoint.
Le Roux told IOL that the Uber driver took her on a route that resulted in the vehicle being halted at the robots between the Castle of Good Hope and the taxi ranks/station in the Cape Town CBD. When the robots turned green, instead of him moving forward, he didn’t.
“At that point, four men (I only really remember seeing three in the struggle) quickly entered the vehicle and began to brutally attacking me, kicking, scratching me, at knife-point, and also tried to rape me while ripping my dress up and down and exposing me.
“It became very clear to me at that point that the Uber driver was part of the attack, and possibly even knew the perpetrators. They did not take his phone or any of his belongings,” she told IOL.
Le Roux went on to say that she struggled for her life against these four men and managed to escape by a miracle.
“They then ran up the stairs into the station to the right. My phone (which they stole) was turned off shortly after. I then ran out the vehicle as I clicked that the driver was working with them, but as I did that, another man came to rob me of my necklace on the stairs.
“Thereafter, I ran back to the Uber as I realised I was not safe outside, and pleaded for him to drop me at my location.”
Despite her pleas, the driver ignored her, but eventually after her begging and screaming, he agreed and dropped her off at her destination. However, her ordeal was far from over.
“Once I got there, my partner asked him for his driver’s license which he said he did not have, and then he gave us his passport. We then advised he needed to follow us to the police station so we could lay a case.
“He became violent when this was mentioned and was banging on the glass doors of the complex,” explained Le Roux.
Le Roux and her partner went to the police station. She said she gave the authorities a detailed three to four page statement on what had occurred.
“They advised that they were locating the CCTV (footage), and further into the night, they said that they located the CCTV and can see the doors were all opened and the Uber driver did nothing but sit there.”
The police are investigating the case.
She went on to say that the driver’s identity on Uber did not match his passport, and that the car was also owned by someone else.
Le Roux accused Uber SA of not providing any significant assistance or taking seriously the concerns of women in South Africa who have been brutalised, raped, and killed.
“Recovery from an event like this will take years of therapy, the amount would be immense and even then, me and the other victims may never truly psychologically recover from this.
“It’s time for Uber to make changes to their policies and employee selections and compensate me and all the victims brutally attacked, at the very least.”
Women For Change said the ongoing violence against women using e-hailing services is a growing crisis in the nation.
“This latest attack is another reminder that women’s safety cannot be taken for granted,” said the group.
* IOL reached out to Uber SA for comment and did not get a response. This is a developing story.
IOL