Belgium: North African migrant arrested for using fake taxi to rape young women


A North African man has been arrested in connection to the rape of a young female student living in Brussels, who claims he posed as a fake taxi driver to lure her into the car after she had left a student baptism.
The 20-year-old victim, a student of Université Libre de Bruxelles, said the perpetrator – a man who she described as North African – raped her about a week and a half ago after he picked her up while posing as a taxi driver for the Collecto ride-sharing service, L’Avenir reports.
The following day, the victim also posted her experience on the Facebook page “ULB Confessions” to warn other potential victims.
“I think he’s prowling around Jefke (Ixelles Cemetery) and he sees the drunk girls walking alone. He stops and pretends to be a Collecto taxi. He explains that he wants to take you anywhere. Except that he takes the girls away from Brussels, to a house, to rape them,” the victim said.
Since the victim’s posting, additional victims have come forward recounting similar experiences in the same area.
A Brussel’s prosecutor’s office confirmed last Friday that a 44-year-old man, who’s being referred to as YB, was arrested and charged with rape of an adult with a weapon and indecent assault with violence or threat of a weapon in the Ixelles area of Brussels, RTL reports.
This isn’t the first time migrants have posed as rideshare drivers to lure unsuspecting women into their vehicles so that they can rape them.
Earlier this year in January, Mohammed Awais, aged 28, was convicted by a London court of rape and sentenced to nine years in prison after he posed as an Uber driver and picked up a drunk woman.
In August, a 26-year-old illegal immigrant from Bangladesh was arrested in Bordeaux after he was accused of raping a university student while working as a delivery guy for Uber Eats.
After arriving at the victim’s door with the food, the migrant forced his way into her flat when he realized she was tired. He then allegedly raped her before fleeing the scene