A BRITISH lady working overseas was raped and brutally murdered by an Uber driver earlier than he dumped her physique, an inquest has heard.
Rebecca Dykes, 30, was picked up by Tariq Houshieh in December 2017 following a “woman’s evening out” at a preferred vacationer bar in Beirut, Lebanon.
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However after she acquired into the cab, Houshieh raped her, strangled her to loss of life with a wire from his hoodie and dumped her physique by the aspect of the highway.
Rebecca had been working for the Division for Worldwide Improvement serving to Lebanon to deal with refugees from the struggle in Syria.
Her physique was discovered close to a highway on December 16, 2017, with choke marks round her neck.
A supply informed how her destiny was sealed when she acquired into the taxi and the driving force noticed her carrying a brief skirt.
Houshieh was handed a loss of life sentence in 2019 – however is interesting to have it commuted, experiences MyLondon.
And it was revealed that he was working as a taxi driver – regardless of having a prison document and twice being arrested for alleged harassment and theft, in line with Agence-France Presse.
At a a lot delayed inquest into her loss of life on the Interior South London Coroner’s courtroom in Southwark on Wednesday, senior coroner Andrew Harrison quizzed British embassy in Beirut publish safety officer Alyson King concerning the safety preparations in place as he thought-about the necessity for a prevention of future deaths report.
Alyson famous workers have a safety transient on arrival, carry private alarms, have month-to-month safety conferences, common workshops, and girls’s solely classes.
In 2017 workers had been additionally suggested to solely use three vetted taxi corporations for private journey – this meant something achieved exterior of the safe preparations made for work. These three companies had been lined within the safety transient.
However she admitted: “It got here to mild afterwards, many workers had been utilizing different taxi corporations after they discovered them handy”.
Coroner Harrison pressed her on the problem, and stated: “That instructed the transient was insufficient or not accepted as essential…Have been you happy with the adequacy of the briefing?”
Alyson stated “sure” however added they proceed to replace the briefing.
Coroner Harrison continued the grilling by asking how her response tallied with “in depth use of none accepted taxi companies at the moment”.
Alyson stated she was not in publish on the time and must verify assembly information to see if the problem was introduced up.
Coroner Harrison instructed Rebecca’s household would “deeply recognize” a solution and inspired them to seek the advice of the International & Commonwealth Workplace after the listening to.
International, Commonwealth & Improvement Workplace head of safety Bharat Joshi stated a particular safety go to after Rebecca’s loss of life concluded the “safety tradition was very very sturdy”.
Baffled by the declare, coroner Harrison requested: “If the safety tradition was so sturdy why had been so many workers utilizing unregistered taxi providers?”
Joshi responded, telling the courtroom many workers “select to not comply with that recommendation”.
He additionally famous “many individuals had been utilizing Uber throughout Lebanon and there had by no means been a severe incident”.
He defined this was because of the “familiarity” of Uber as a worldwide model and comfort.
He recalled complaints by workers utilizing the three vetted cab corporations they needed to wait “15-20 minutes”.
In an emotional speech through video hyperlink, Rebecca’s mum Jane Houng stated: “I simply hope that no guardian has to undergo what we have now needed to undergo.
“One factor that pained me very a lot was that now embassy workers put on private alarms.
“I believe if Rebecca had been carrying a private alarm at that cut-off date it in all probability would have saved her life.
“After I went to Lebanon shortly after her loss of life and sat across the desk with Rebecca’s mates and colleagues all of them stated they used Uber. It was frequent place for private journey”
Making his conclusion of illegal killing, coroner Harrison summed up the “deeply tragic” listening to and stated there have been “gaps in understanding” of the safety preparations on the time.
However, he famous “nice steps had been taken” within the 5 years since and it was “a matter for safety” as “nothing in life is threat free”. He added: “The dangers are identified and the steps have been taken.”
