DALLAS -- Testimony began Tuesday in the trial of former Uber driver Talal Chammout, 59, accused of following a customer into her Oak Cliff home and sexually assaulting her.
The key to the case is consent. Neither side disputes that Chammout had sex with his customer the night of July 25, 2015. The defense says it was consensual sex, while prosecutors say it was not.
The jury heard from multiple witnesses, starting with the woman who says Chammout assaulted her.
She was identified in court by a pseudonym, Lindsey Kramer, to protect her identity because she is an alleged sexual assault victim.
"I felt so uncertain and scared," Kramer said on the stand. "It was too much to bare, feeling that my boyfriend would think I was dirty or used, damaged goods."
Kramer said took the Uber after spending the day drinking with friends for a birthday party. She says Chammout followed her inside her home and refused to leave. She says, the next thing she remembers was coming to and realizing they were having sex
"It was confusing and disorienting, I was disoriented, I first felt motion then felt penetration," she said on the stand.
She told jurors she thinks Chammout hit her in the back of the head, but her memory is too hazy to be sure. She says she woke up with a headache and a bump on her head, plus scrapes on her knees.
Prosecutors say Chammout later told police he and Kramer had sex in the office, located in the first room you entered in the home. Prosecutors said Chammout then told police that Kramer walked away afterward, and he found her asleep on the floor next to her bed, lifted her onto her bed, and performed oral sex. He is charged with two counts of sexual assault.
The defense says Kramer invited Chammout into her home and consented to sex because she was in a fight with her live-in boyfriend at the time and wanted to get back at him.
"We are not here because of a rape, we are here because a woman messed up, got caught and had to find a way out," said defense attorney Katherine Devlin.
Chammout shouldn't have been driving an Uber in the first place. The company said he showed them a fake license and never went through a background check.
Kramer's boyfriend at the time also testified, as did a police officer and a nurse that specializes in sexual assault examinations.
The trial was scheduled to resume at 8:45 Wednesday morning.
