A Perth woman raped by a man pretending to be a rideshare driver on a night out three years ago has bravely spoken about her story in a warning to other women.
Clare Connor was assaulted by Michael Pena Chavez, who was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison on Friday.
The now-25-year-old’s life has been forever changed after the night out with friends in 2022.
“I can’t just do things without a care in the world like I used to,” Connor told 9News.
Connor accepted a ride from Chavez, who was pretending to be her Uber driver.
“He drove off knowing what he was doing at that point – obviously me, oblivious,” she said.
Chavez, 42, told his victim he’d take her home for free but then the drive took a sinister turn.
“At that moment I texted my friend saying ‘hey, my Uber driver’s trying to hold my hand…what the hell’s happening’,” she recalled.
“My phone died instantly after I sent that message.”
Unable to open the door, Connor was then raped twice.
“I got out of the car, panic attack, couldn’t breathe, started crying,” she said.
After reporting the attack to police, Chavez, a father-of-two, was then charged and eventually pleaded guilty.
On Friday in court, Connor bravely faced her rapist for the first time since that night.
“It was surreal,” she said.
“It was like I just… I couldn’t even look him in the eye ’cause I saw him looking at me and I just.. I couldn’t even look at all.”
Chavez has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison.
“I thought he should have gotten 14 [years], which is the max,” she said.
Connor only discovered during Friday’s sentencing that on that fateful night, Chavez saw she was intoxicated and purposely turned his car around to pick her up.
“I just wanna know if he knows that what he did was one of the worst things a person could do to another human,” Connor said.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
