A terrifying instance of vi0lence and attempted rape of a female Uber customer in the Cape Town central business district has been reported on social media by Women For Change, an advocacy group for women.
Chera-lee le Roux, 27, was picked up from her unit at approximately 9:35 p.m. on Thursday, November 14, by an Uber driver using what she now believes to be fictitious identification information in order to travel to Greenpoint.
Le Roux told IOL that she was taken on a path by the Uber driver that led to the car being stopped at the robots between the Castle of Good Hope and the Cape Town CBD taxi ranks/station. Instead of moving ahead, he remained motionless when the robots went green.
“At that point, four men (I only really remember seeing three in the struggle) quickly entered the vehicle and began to brutally att@cking me, kicking, scratching me, at knife-point, and also tried to r@pe 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 att@ck, 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.
