A woman texted her boyfriend to say “help” before she was allegedly sexually assaulted by an Uber driver during an early morning ride, a court has been told.
Mohamad Pili-Bake, 48, was arrested in May, six days after allegedly sexually assaulting the young woman inside his car in a suburban park.
The court was told Pili-Bake picked up the woman after she finished work in Sydney’s inner west at about 7am before driving to her home, where he asked to kiss her.
Supreme Court judge Richard Cavanagh told the court on Wednesday that while in the car, the woman sent a text to her boyfriend saying: “Help. Uber outside.”
The woman says she was “frozen in fear” and alleges Pili-Bake began kissing her without her consent, the court was told.
The Birrong man then drove her to a park where the woman alleges she was sexually assaulted in the backseat.
Pili-Bake claimed any sexual contact was consensual, her lawyer Ian Lloyd told the court on Wednesday.
There is no doubt that sexual relations took place, Lloyd said.
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The Iranian-born man watched from Long Bay Correctional Complex on Wednesday morning, dressed in his green prison uniform, as the New South Wales Supreme Court denied his application for conditional bail.
He has been charged with having sexual intercourse without consent and sexually touching another person without consent and faces up to 14 years in prison if convicted.
Judge Cavanagh described the Crown Prosecution Service’s case against Pili-Bake as “strong”, highlighting a letter from the woman saying she had been hospitalised as a result of the incident and feared for her safety if he was released.
The court reported that immediately afterwards, she reported the alleged sexual assault to her mother and the police and was taken to the hospital where she received medical attention.
Police maintain their case is supported by GPS data, CCTV, partial admissions made by Pili-Bake and credible evidence from the woman, the court was told.
Pili-Bake claimed that when he drove her home, the woman was asleep in the front seat and when she woke up she asked to be taken to a second location, where she fell asleep again, the court was told.
Mr Pili-Bake said he went to the back seat to rest while waiting for the woman to wake up and when she did, she went to the back seat and had sex with him.
“He says the encounter lasted less than 10 minutes and that throughout the event the complainant kept falling asleep and waking up and each time she woke up she continued to engage in sexual activity with him,” Judge Cavanagh said.
“He says the meeting was unwanted by him and that he tried to reject the advances.”
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Mr Lloyd proposed strict bail conditions, including that Pili-Bake report to police daily, not work as an Uber driver but be allowed to work as a baker, provide collateral, observe a curfew and wear an ankle monitoring bracelet.
The court told him he had no criminal record.
The Crown opposed the bail application, in part because there was a risk he would flee to his native Iran, where his parents still live.
Mr Lloyd argued that Pili-Bake had immigrated to Australia as a refugee in 1999 and had strong community ties to Sydney, including with his ex-wife and her family, arguing he did not pose a flight risk.
“The tracking bracelet is there as a strict condition of bail and I don’t have to tell Your Honour anything about the tracking bracelet. Although there has been the odd case where it has been cut off, that is a very odd case,” Lloyd said.
“One of my own, Mr Lloyd… was found on a boat in Darwin,” Judge Cavanagh replied, referring to a man he had released on bail.
Judge Cavanagh refused Pili-Bake’s bail application, saying: “I am not satisfied that any of the conditions proposed sufficiently ameliorate the concerns I have.
‘As I have stressed, this is a case which, on its face, appears to be a strong case for the prosecution. In circumstances where the applicant was supposed to drop the complainant off at her home, he obviously knew that she was at her home.’
Pili-Bake is due back in court later this month.