Horror moment fake taxi driver tricks woman into getting in his car before rape

Yuseab Woldeab pretended to be a taxi driver to lure his victim into his car before he kidnapped her, drove her to his home and raped her twice in a “truly horrendous” crime

CCTV footage has shown the terrifying moment a rapist tricked a woman into getting in his car before kidnapping and raping her.

Yuseab Woldeab impersonated a taxi driver as he approached his victim and offered to drop her off after she’d been on a night out in Plymouth last year.

But after the woman — who cannot be named for legal reasons — passed out in his car, the 28-year-old predator then drove her to his home, where he raped her twice.

Police released chilling security footage of the fake taxi driver’s pick-up today as a jury found him guilty of two counts of rape and one of kidnap, the Daily Star reports.

DS Chris Kinski of the Sexual Offences Investigation Team played the horrifying surveillance video during the trial as he called it a “truly horrendous and disturbing crime”.

The clip shows “calculated predator” Woldeab driving around the city centre before spotting his victim on Union Street at around 4am on April 25.

He can be seen slowing down after passing her and hitting the brakes, before making a U-turn further down the road and driving the vehicle back up towards his victim.

Woldeab then slowed down and came to a stop as he approached the woman again, who then went to speak to him through the car window.

“They had a short conversation and the defendant said he is a taxi driver,” officer Kinski explained.

“The victim gets in the vehicle, and before the door is even shut, the vehicle makes off at speed, towards the Devonport area.”

Woldeab proceeded to drive his victim to his home address in Wilton Street and rape her, Plymouth Crown Court heard.

When Woldeab left his bedroom the victim fled, running back home and contacting the police for help.

The sex offender was handed an 18-year prison sentence for his crimes.

Rebecca Sutherland, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS South West, said: “This was a shocking case in which the defendant deliberately targeted and abducted a lone, vulnerable young woman before subjecting her to an appalling attack.

“We want every victim to have the confidence that their case will be fully investigated by the police and that, in every case where our legal tests are met, the Crown Prosecution Service will charge and prosecute.”