US Uber driver acquitted of rape charges
/ Courtesy of rentcafe.com
By Ko Dong-hwan
An Uber driver in Chicago was acquitted Monday after being held in custody without bail since December on charges of rape.
Cook County Attorney’s Office in the state of Illinois dropped all criminal charges against Maxime Fohounhedo, 33, from the Western African country of Benin, who had been living in America for three years on a working visa. The acquittal came from analysis of a video recording obtained from a smartphone which showed what appeared to be a “friendly conversation” between him and the female passenger, an online news outlet reported Wednesday. The video ends with the passenger giving Fohounhedo “a big hug and a big kiss,” the report added.
The woman previously told authorities Fohounhedo sexually assaulted her at a residence near her apartment. Her statement included that she had been drifting in and out of consciousness after she entered his taxi and later found herself in a building with Fohounhedo on top of her.
Fohounhedo’s lawyer, Shady Yassin, used the recording to refute the woman’s claim, saying she couldn’t have hugged or kissed him if she was in fear of her life.
Attorney’s Office spokesman, Steve Campbell, said the office hasn’t planned to press charges against the woman for filing a false report.
The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) said Tuesday the watchdog body will not tolerate startups operating in Korea that violate domestic laws, no matter how innovative and creative they may be.
“Such services have to follow current domestic law, although existing laws cannot fully cover new services," KCC Chairman Choi Sung-joon said during a press conference. He said Uber “obviously goes against current regulations,” while the Seoul Metropolitan Government and local taxi drivers claimed Uber violated the Public Transport Law.
First released in the U.S. in 2009 and launching worldwide in 2012, Uber Technologies provides a global ride-sharing smartphone app. Korea introduced the ride-sharing platform “UberX” at the end of last year. The service stopped regular operations in January, and modified the system to follow local law and was re-launched as “uberBLACK,” a limousine style service available to foreigners-only.
Uber is expected to rake in from its global markets annual revenue of $10 billion by the end of 2015, with an annual growth rate of 300 percent, Business Insider said. The company is expected to go public in a few years with $50 to $100 billion valuation, with the last valuation exceeding $18 billion, the report added. Uber was not available at the time for an interview.