Despite having her account suspended, a delivery rider who bit off a customer’s thumb during a violent altercation over pizza was discovered to be still employed by Deliveroo.
Jenniffer Rocha, 35, from Aldershot, Hampshire, had been working as a ‘substitute’ driver using another rider’s account when she attacked customer Stephen Jenkinson.
The Brazilian-born mother gnawed Mr Jenkinson’s thumb ‘clean off’ above the knuckle and admitted grievous bodily harm in March.
Deliveroo promptly cancelled Rocha’s account after her court appearance, calling the incident ‘awful’.
However, last month, the discredited delivery worker was seen on camera making food deliveries—using a Deliveroo account once more.
In footage captured by BBC News, Rocha can be seen riding her moped around Aldershot as she picks up food for delivery.
On one occasion, on April 18, Rocha was filmed going to a takeaway, stowing a bag of food in a box on her bike, and riding off.
The manager of the takeout acknowledged that Rocha had been picking up the delivery using a Deliveroo account.
Deliveroo announced that Rocha’s second account had been suspended.
The delivery rider’s sentencing is scheduled for tomorrow.
When Rocha delivered a £57 Pizza Express order to the incorrect location in December 2022, it set off the initial, gruesome attack.
After ordering the pizza, plumber Stephen Wilkinson went to meet her down the street, but he forgot his phone, so he couldn’t give her a pick-up code.
The two began arguing before Mr Wilkinson claimed he was attacked by the delivery worker, culminating in Rocha gnawing his thumb down to the knuckle.
After being sent to the hospital, Mr Wilkinson had an 11-hour surgery to replace the amputated appendage, during which a portion of his big toe was stitched onto the stump of his thumb.
The 36-year-old told Winchester Crown Court in March that he is now ‘permanently disabled’ and unable to work.
Rocha’s recent sighting comes just days after delivery apps Deliveroo, Just Eat, and Uber Eats promised to tighten up their systems and check the identities of their ‘substitute’ riders.
Since each rider is an independent contractor, they are free to assign their accounts to any individual they want as a “stand-in.”
In the past, it has been the primary account holder’s responsibility to verify that the individual is over the age of 18, has no significant convictions, and is authorised to work.
It’s obvious to me that Deliveroo should be paying this man a considerable amount of money and should not be able to escape their responsibilities. More importantly, why was this woman not jailed immediately for her crime? The fact that she’s free to roam the streets after committing such an awful crime says a lot for our criminal justice system.
Today, a whole underground economy exists, and its only goal is to provide you access to jobs like these when you would not otherwise get hired.
A person provides their services, and they provide the paperwork and money, and the split is agreed upon. They are modern-day gang masters, which unfortunately leads to unknown people with unknown histories arriving at your door with food or driving a taxi to your home. If this woman isn’t a British national, she should be deported for committing a crime because, here in the UK, we have other problems to solve.
These people earn a fortune, and I wonder if the HMRC is looking into these people who generally work for outlets that accept cash only because they can cook the books.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 