Police are on the hunt for a woman who hijacked a taxi and told the driver to run for his life before setting it alight.
The incident occurred on the Upper Corentyne on Monday at about 06:40h.
The driver of the car, 32-year-old Ravindra Mohabir, told Guyana Times he had never seen the woman before. He said she had hired the car to go to the Number 63 Beach to purchase fish.
The burnt Toyota Carina
“She stop me on the road and ask me how much to take her to the beach to buy fish, and I told her $2000, and she jump in and pay me,” he told Guyana Times.
Mohabir said he had, on Monday, left his home at Number 59 Village, Corentyne and had gone to fix a vehicle belonging to a Surinamese. On his way back, he met the hijacker.
“I reach the lady by 61 [Village]. She went by the bushes, so when ah ask she where she going, she said that she going to 63 Beach, she going and buy Banga Mary.”
Hire car driver Ravindra Mohabir
After agreeing on the fare, he headed towards the beach. However, instead of going to the waterfront, the woman asked him to use the road just behind. The sand road is considered part of the Number 63 Beach.
“When we reach about halfway, she pull out a gun; she went at the back. She put the gun to my head and say, ‘Give me all the money that you gat!’ ”
Mohabir said he was able to recognise that it was a gun the woman had placed to the back of his head by using the rearview mirror in the car.
He said he handed the woman the $2000 which he had collected from her and his cellular phone which was in the same pocket. She then demanded more, but he indicated that it was all that he had at the time.
“She say, ‘Alright, jump out the car’. So I stop the car and didn’t cut off the engine and jump out and start run.”
On his way out of the beach, Mohabir said, he met a gentleman who was riding a bicycle. He said he asked for a telephone call, and after explaining to the Police, the man told him he was seeing smoke.
“I did not worry to go back. I continue and go to the Police; and then me and the police go back, and we see the car burning.” Police searched the area but were unable to find anyone.
When Guyana Times arrived on the scene, the Toyota Carina AT 192 was still smoking. Previously HB 7773, it was valued at $850,000.
Persons doing business at the main entrance to the beach told this publication they had seen no one fitting the woman’s description exiting the beach. Those who live along another beach entrance also gave the same report.
Meanwhile, Ravindra Mohabir’s father, Dasrat Mohabir, has said he went to an insurance company on behalf of his traumatised son, and had met an attendant who laughed at him.
“After I told her what happen, she asked for the insurance. So I give her the paper, and she say, ‘This is a third party’, and she watch at me and start to laugh. She say, ‘Don’t you know that you have nothing to get on this insurance?’ ”
Meanwhile, as Police continue to hunt for the hijacker, Mohabir has described her as being a slim, light skinned individual who was standing with a large empty paint bucket, and appeared to be going to purchase fish. He also reiterated that he had never previously seen this woman.
Police are continuing their hunt for her.
