Pratik Shah: Public servant, 45, posing as an Uber driver sexually assaults teenagers he gave lifts home – but his wife’s standing by him despite him using HER car

A public servant who sexually assaulted two women while posing as an Uber driver has pleaded guilty and is now a registered sex offender.

Pratik Shah, 45, assaulted his victims, both aged 19, in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley in 2021.

Shah kissed and touched the first victim after she got into his wife’s car and then forced his way into her home after they arrived, a Brisbane court was told on Thursday.

Shah’s wife held his hand as he walked into the courtroom last week.

His victim’s family were in court as Magistrate Belinda Merrin recounted her experience, which her mother said ‘changed her daughter forever’.

Shah pleaded guilty to four charges, three of indecent assault and one of entering a dwelling with intent to commit a crime, and was sent to prison.

The former civil servant pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual assault in relation to his two victims on whom he forced himself in September and October that year.

The mother of his first victim said Shah’s sentence had been in the works for two and a half years.

“My daughter has suffered from severe depression and complex PTSD, all as a result of his transgressions… she is forever changed,” she says. told 7News.

Her father added that both victims had “done nothing wrong” and that their only mistake was trusting Shah, who preyed on them while disguised as a rideshare driver.

Shah had taped signs to the window of his wife’s car to lull his victims to sleep before repeatedly fondling their breasts and buttocks.

On September 25, he stopped several times while driving the first girl home, during which time he kissed and groped her breasts and genitals over her clothing.

His second victim was preyed upon three weeks later, at around 2am on October 17, after he pulled over his car and offered her a lift home.

Despite her attempts to push him away and demand he stop, Shah told her she was “sexy” and “hot” while kissing her, rubbing her thigh and brushing her genitals.

Crown prosecutor Carla Ahern told the court Shah had targeted the “vulnerable” teenagers who had been drinking alcohol in the early morning.

Magistrate Merrin told Shah he had betrayed his victims’ trust by promising them a safe ride home and was ruthless in his attack.

“Instead of quitting, you kept at it,” Magistrate Merrin said during his sentencing.

“What you did has had a profound and devastating impact on them and their families.”

Shah had worked as a civil servant and managed a carpet cleaning company while occasionally working as a driver, but not at the time of his offending.

The mother of Shah’s first victim told reporters outside a Brisbane court that her daughter was ‘forever changed’ by what he did to her

Magistrate Merrin noted that Shah suffered a brain injury as a child, had ADHD and suffered from an undiagnosed depressive disorder when he abused the women.

Shah had blamed the ‘fall’ he suffered four decades earlier as the reason he attacked the women.

Lawyer Craig Eberhardt KC told the court that his client was less morally culpable than normal people because of his injuries and undiagnosed conditions.

Ms Ahern asked that Shah receive a prison sentence of up to two and a half years, while Mr Eberhardt asked that he receive a fully suspended sentence of six months.

Shah, who is banned from contacting his victims, asked his lawyer to apologize to them and hopes his guilty plea will allow them to “start healing.”

Mr Eberhardt said Shah was deeply remorseful and will lose his government job as a result of his crimes.

Shah now plans to take a course on sexual boundaries.

Four other charges against Shah were dropped. including one charge of deprivation of liberty against his second victim, and he will be released probation on May 8.

He will be sentenced at a later date.

If you or someone you know is affected by sexual abuse, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au.