Zurich Uber driver acquitted of sexual assault charge by Court of Appeal
The Zurich Court of Appeal has acquitted a 54-year-old Uber driver on second instance. The Dielsdorf District Court had previously sentenced him to 18 months conditional imprisonment.
Acquittal for Uber driver: Court of Appeal doubts facts in prosecution case
The Zurich Court of Appeal has fully acquitted a 54-year-old married Uber driver who was accused of sexually abusing an intoxicated sleeping woman in his vehicle in December 2023. According to the NZZ, the ruling was decided by a ratio of 2 to 1 within the three-member judicial panel, which consisted of two women and one man.
The Dielsdorf District Court had sentenced the dual citizen of Italy and Bangladesh to a conditional sentence of 18 months in February 2025 for sexual assault. Additionally, a mandatory five-year deportation order had been imposed. The Court of Appeal has now overturned this ruling. The defendant receives compensation of 3,200 francs for 16 days of unjustified detention.
The night in December 2023
The woman had been celebrating after a Christmas dinner with work colleagues in the Langstrasse district in Zurich. Her boss put her in an Uber. The defendant drove her from the Club Zukunft in central Zurich to the Zurich hinterland. According to Uber data, the vehicle arrived at its destination at 3:05 a.m.; at 4:05 a.m. the driver accepted a new assignment.
Before the District Court, the young woman described how she had fallen asleep in the vehicle while intoxicated and remembered nothing of the ride. Suddenly she had felt a tongue in her throat, slowly woken up and realised that a man had been lying on top of her. Her bra and trousers had been open. She then fled the car. She said she could still see his grin in front of her today.
The defendant does not fundamentally deny sexual conduct, but describes the course of events differently: at the destination, the woman had not wanted to get out, had blown him a "air kiss" and had aggressively pulled him onto the rear seat. She had sat on top of him and masturbated. He had not consented, had been afraid and explained that he could not do this as a taxi driver. He said he had been lured into a trap.
The smartwatch as evidence
A key piece of evidence before the Dielsdorf District Court was data from the woman's smartwatch, which had recorded her heart rate that night. After beginning the journey at 2:41 a.m., her heart rate declined continuously to 87 beats per minute and remained at this level even after arriving at the destination for approximately 30 minutes. Only at 3:35 a.m. did it rise above 100 beats per minute again.
The prosecutor and the victim's legal representative argued that the woman had been physically inactive for at least 30 minutes — which contradicted the driver's account that she had immediately wanted to engage in sex aggressively upon arrival. The victim's legal representative also pointed out that the woman had been medically diagnosed with loss of libido at the time of the alleged offence.
The defence counsel requested acquittal and countered that nothing could be concluded from the smartwatch data.
The Dielsdorf District Court had treated the smartwatch data as confirmation of the woman's account: in its view, they could only lead to the conclusion that the woman had slept for 25 minutes after arrival. Moreover, it was considered implausible and difficult to imagine that the woman would have sat on top of the driver on the narrow rear seat while he remained passive for almost an hour.
"In dubio pro reo" — the principle decides
The Court of Appeal reached a different conclusion after intensive deliberation. The presiding judge of appeal justified the acquittal with substantial doubts about the prosecution's case. The majority of the court had serious doubts that the facts had occurred as described by the prosecution.
The defendant had testified credibly at its core and spoken "from the heart". There had been no indication that he had given deliberately controlled testimony. Many markers of reality had been evident in his descriptions; he had often supported his statements with gestures and had consistently described throughout all interrogations how surprised and irritated he had been by the situation.
The court also emphasised that it was convinced the private plaintiff had subjectively experienced the evening as she had described it. However, it was established that she had been severely intoxicated and under the influence of medication. From the moment she got into the Uber until she woke up, she had a "blackout". The court did not exclude the possibility that she simply could not remember events that had actually taken place.
The court described the private plaintiff's statement about the moment she woke up as "telling": "I thought that he felt that I wanted that too."
"In dubio pro reo" was an important principle, explained the presiding judge — even if it meant acquitting someone who might be guilty. "None of us were there."
The private plaintiff's civil claims, to which the District Court had awarded 8,000 francs in compensation, were referred to civil proceedings.
Source: NZZ