Alone, late at night, in an isolated part of a major city after being out drinking with friends.
An Uber pulls up and you unknowingly step into a rapist's car.Â
He sexually assaults you as you freeze in fear. And then there's the horrific aftermath.
Reliving the trauma every day and explaining what happened to family, friends, police, a judge, jury and lawyers because the rapist denies the charge and claims it was "consensual".
Uber driver Mohamad Yahiya was on Wednesday jailed for up to seven-and-a-half years for putting his victim through this experience.
"She was a 19-year-old woman alone in an isolated part of Melbourne CBD at two in the morning," County Court Judge Angela Ellis said as she sentenced Yahiya.
"She was isolated from her friends and once in your car was essentially entirely at your mercy.
"What you have done to her represents the realisation of a common fear held by many women - that they cannot take rideshares or taxis alone with a driver, without taking some sort of risk that they will be propositioned or assaulted."
Yahiya, 46, had an accredited rideshare sticker affixed to his vehicle, when he pulled up outside a Melbourne club and asked the 19-year-old if she needed a ride in June 2024.
The woman, who cannot be legally identified, got in the front of the car and said she didn't think she had ordered an Uber.
Yahiya told her he would take her home and asked for her address, but instead of taking her to safety he pulled out a condom and asked "do you mind?"
He then raped her in the back seat and threw $70 cash at her when it was over, leaving her alone on the side of the road again.
The woman froze in fear throughout the ordeal and shook as she didn't know what Yahiya would do to her.
A friend helped get her home, where her parents called triple zero before taking her to hospital.
Police used CCTV to find Yahiya's vehicle and he was charged with rape but consistently denied the offending, taking it to trial as he claimed it was consensual.
The victim had to give evidence and was cross-examined by Yahiya's lawyers, who argued the prosecution could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt the victim did not consent.
A jury rejected this and found Yahiya guilty of rape in May.
The victim said during a pre-sentence hearing the crime had a "catastrophic" and "irreversible" impact on her life.
"There is not a day that goes by that she does not think about what happened, and on some days the emotional distress of the memories becomes incapacitating," Judge Ellis said, reading her statement.
"Males who prey upon young, vulnerable women alone in their company are all too prevalent.
"This is particularly reprehensible conduct by somebody who had assumed responsibility for seeing the victim home safely."
Yahiya must spend a minimum of four years and nine months behind bars before becoming eligible for parole.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
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