VILLANOVA, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — A judge has ordered a former Uber driver accused of raping a passenger to stand trial on charges including rape by force and rape of an unconscious person.
A 21-year-old Villanova student testified she had about three glasses of wine and two shots at friends’ apartments on Sept. 13, before they went to a nightclub in Philadelphia.
When they got to the club, she says, she was too drunk and didn’t want her friends to have to “babysit” her — so she got an Uber back to Villanova.
Mirvan Dinler, 26, of Washington Court in Trappe, Montgomery County, is the driver who picked her up and dropped her off at her dormitory.
She says while she remembers getting in the car, she doesn’t remember anything else between that moment and waking up in her Villanova dorm room with a strange man on top of her.
She says she was disoriented and scared he would become violent, so she didn’t fight back, tell him to stop or yell out.
Dinler’s attorney Shaka Johnson says his client has never been in trouble before and was putting himself through school by driving for Uber.
“He finds himself thrown into a situation where his entire reputation, his family's reputation, has been besmirched, and he's labeled a rapist. It's awful. It's just awful.”
Johnson says he looks forward to clearing his client’s name in court.
“So far, you've only heard one story, so I'm not surprised about who you may believe right now, but there will be a different version coming shortly, believe me.”
Dinler is scheduled for a formal arraignment in Delaware County Court on Jan. 2.