An Uber driver will face a minimum of six years and four months behind bars after being found guilty of raping a female passenger.
Muhammad Naveed, 41, picked up a 22-year-old woman outside a Kings Cross nightclub in October, 2015, ABC News reports.
The court heard the woman had fallen asleep in the back of the car after a night of drinking and awoke to find Naveed on top of her.
During sentencing, Judge Deborah Payne declared the driver “must have been very aware, very early on, of her intoxicated and sleepy state”.
“He clearly took advantage in the most terrible way of a vulnerable young lady,” she said, as reported by The Sydney Morning Herald.
“She was isolated in the vehicle, which she thought was a taxi, and further isolated by being taken to an isolated location.”
Naveed claimed he had consensual sex with the woman, but was found guilty by a jury.
Judge Payne added that Naveed displayed “neither contrition nor remorse” for his actions.
The driver will be eligible for parole in 2023.
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