Uber driver accused of rape ‘not subject to removal,’ ICE says
An Uber driver who was arraigned Monday in Boston after being accused of raping a passenger is not subject to removal from the country, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.
(CNN) — An Uber driver who was arraigned Monday in Boston after being accused of raping a passenger is not subject to removal from the country, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.
On Sunday, ICE had placed a detainer on Daudah Mayanja, 37, a Ugandan citizen who lives in Waltham, Massachusetts. ICE says a detainer is “placed on aliens arrested on criminal charges for whom ICE possesses probable cause to believe that they are removable from the United States.”
But in a statement to CNN, an ICE official said upon investigation, the agency found “this individual is not subject to removal at this time.”
Around 1:15 a.m. Saturday, Massachusetts State Police responded to a report that a woman had been sexually assaulted by her Uber driver. Mayanja was arrested on two counts of rape. The victim was taken to a hospital for treatment.
When reached for comment, Uber said that as soon as the company was notified, it removed the driver’s access to the app.
Mayanja maintained his innocence in a telephone interview with Boston TV station WCVB.
“That information that aired outside is wrong and false,” Mayanja told WCVB. “She jumped from the back seat to the driver’s seat. When I pulled over, she jumped out from the car, (and) I left the scene. I called my bosses because, after, I noticed that she left her bag inside my car. I called the Uber offices to tell them about the situation.”
Mayanja said he received a phone call from police shortly afterward. “She reported to the police that somebody, the driver, tried to rape her,” he said.
He told WCVB that he drove himself to the state police barracks, gave his statement and was arrested.
In court Monday, Mayanja pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape and was ordered held on $100,000 bail by Boston Municipal Court Judge Richard Sinnott.
Mayanja began sobbing as his attorney, Kim Giampietro, spoke of his deceased wife and the 12 children he is trying to support.
“Could you please knock it off,” Sinnott told him.
Suffolk Assistant District Attorney AlexaRae Wright told Sinnott that the assault occurred after Mayanja picked up his accuser outside a bar in Somerville. It began, she said, “while the vehicle was in motion,” according to the Boston Herald’s account of the proceedings.
Giampietro said of the accuser, “We allege, and the police report seems to mention, that she was highly intoxicated and/or using marijuana.”
Giampietro told the judge the accuser had climbed into the front seat, which her client was not comfortable with.
“He pulled over and told her that he did not want her to smoke marijuana, and she got out of the vehicle,” the defense attorney said.
He is required to surrender his passport. If he makes bail, he is required to wear a GPS monitoring bracelet.
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The Boston Herald contributed to this report.