Uber rapist driver may be deported to New Zealand

An Uber driver who took his passenger to a secluded area and raped her could be deported to New Zealand when he is released from jail.

Sakaria Taufao, 51, received a seven-year prison sentence for the rape, which occurred in Ipswich, near Brisbane, in 2015, ABC reported.

The court in the Taufao case heard that he found the 18-year-old victim and offered to “take her” as he walked home from a nightclub. He told the woman he was an Uber driver.

But shortly after putting her in his car, Taufao turned off her Uber app, disabling the GPS, and took her to an isolated area and raped her.

He later left her and continued to take driving jobs, ABC said.

At his trial, Taufao’s defense was that the prosecutors had “the wrong man” and that the case was “totally circumstantial.”

In final presentations Thursday, defense attorney Dominic Nguyen said the prosecution “had the wrong man” and that the case was “totally circumstantial.”

Despite this, a jury found Taufao guilty this week of a rape charge, ABC reported.

During sentencing in Brisbane District Court, Judge Michael Burnett described the crime as “calculated and predatory,” saying that Taufao “used and abused her role as an Uber driver to lure her into his vehicle.”

He said that he had taken advantage of a “drunk and vulnerable young girl” whom he raped “in the most despicable way.”

ABC also revealed that Taufao was charged with three counts of rape in another case, but was found not guilty in a trial last year.

Despite receiving seven years for the crime in Ipswich, Taufao has already served 3.5 years in prison and is already eligible for parole for the matter for which he was just sentenced.

He will face deportation to New Zealand when he is released, ABC reported.