Uber driver sentenced for sexually assaulting passenger: VPD

A man who sexually assaulted a young woman while she was a passenger in the Uber he was driving has been sentenced to two months of house arrest, according to the Vancouver Police Department.

Mohammed Abu Sayed, who is 69, was found guilty of one count of sexual assault in October of 2022 and sentenced last week. Following the period of house arrest, Sayed will be on probation for 18 months. The conditions include a ban working as a ride-share, taxi, or limo driver and a ban on being in liquor stores, bars, pubs, or nightclubs.

There are no publicly available court documents related to the case and the VPD did not issue a statement when the suspect was arrested or charged.

The department's spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison provided details about the investigation to CTV News on Tuesday.

The victim reported the assault to the police in August of 2021. She was 21 at the time and travelling between Vancouver and Coquitlam, Addison said.

The victim told investigators that Sayed encouraged her to sit in the front seat of his vehicle and that she was intoxicated at the time of the assault.

"Specifically, she reported to us that she had been groped," Addison told CTV News, adding that he commends the victim for making the difficult decision to come forward.

"She did nothing wrong. In fact, she did everything right in this case in the sense that she was trying to get home safely and responsibly. She contacted Uber, she knew who was transporting her, she had recorded the name of the driver and the information she was able too provide us greatly assisted us during the course of our investigation."

In a statement, Uber confirmed that it suspended Sayed's access to its platform in August of 2021.

“(His) actions are inexcusable and we are extremely unsettled by the experience reported by the rider," a spokesperson said in an email, adding that the company co-operated with the investigation.

Addison said reports of this nature are rare, given the number of people who use ride-shares, taxis and limos in the city.

"When they do happen and a victim chooses to come forward, it's really important that they be taken seriously," he said.

In 2021, the most recent year for which data is available, Statistics Canada reported a "sharp" increase in the number of sexual assaults reported to police nation-wide.

"This rate was 18 per cent higher than in 2020, and the highest rate since 1996," a report from the agency said.

"Despite the general increase in police-reported sexual assault, as well as considerable public discussion of issues around sexual violence in recent years, the number of sexual assaults reported by police is likely a significant underestimation of the true extent of sexual assault in Canada, as these types of offences often go unreported to police."

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Shannon Paterson