Woman leads taxi driver into trap

Every time a taxi operator picks up a passenger he or she does not know or responds to a call from a strange address, it is possible that they will face danger. Today, Automotives begins a series of stories in which taxi operators relate their tales of close encounters with extreme danger, simply by doing their jobs. Follow the intriguing details of each story, as the 'cabbies' speak about their fear, just from taking up a fare.

Sheldon Williams, Gleaner Writer

September 5, 2005, remains stamped in the memory of 48-year-old taxi operator Kenley Seivewright. He ended up being bound, slapped, gun-butted, stranded and left helpless in a remote area after he was attacked by four men when he carried a female passenger to what he thought was her home.

Seivewright, who is better known by his alias Yellow, admitted that he has been counting his blessings since that night, which remains the most dreadful he has ever expeienced in 15 years as a taxi driver.

"I picked up a couple in New Kingston who told me that they wanted to go to Cumberland in Portmore, so I took the job. Dem charter me from New Kingston to Portmore," Yellow explained. He said, at first glance, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, as they appeared to be decent people. Without any hesitation, he accepted the job.

Yellow said the journey seemed routine until he reached Portmore Lane. The male passenger exited the vehicle and Yellow continued on the journey with the woman. He recalls that as he neared the final destination, she made a call instructing someone to "come outside with the fare" because she was close by.

Little did Yellow know that it was the signal to notify thugs he was nearby and they should be prepared to attack.

So when the car stopped, Yellow said, "is a gun that mi a look up ina and a man draw me from round the steering wheel and blindfold me with tape". Immediately he was beaten all over his body by the group of men and started to bleed. "Dem lick me up inna mi head and inna mi side even though mi never did a resist," he said.

According to Yellow, maybe that is why he is still alive, as one thug asked why the taxi driver was being beaten "when mi never did a give no trouble," Yellow related. However, Yellow said, while the men were roughing him up the woman told him that they were going to kill him now.

Eventually he was placed on the back seat of the car seated between the thugs and driven to a location he would later identify as Lakes Pen. Yellow said all he remembers about the journey was "the vehicle did a jump up and down like it did a jump on some big stones".

When the vehicle finally stopped, he was taken out and left blindfolded, with his hands bound. The men took Yellow's cash, cellphone and valuables he was carrying. They then drove away and left Yellow in the darkness.

After he managed to free himself the taxi driver walked for miles, stopping at intervals to search for road signs and landmarks. Yellow said he walked until he arrived in Portmore. He stood on a median looking around, still trying to pinpoint his location, then sought help from a passing taxi driver.

Yellow related his ordeal to the cabbie, who gave him directions to Naggo Head, where he walked towards a bar. The cabbie was unable to assist further as he was transporting ailing persons to the Spanish Town Hospital.

At the bar, Yellow sought help from a man. "The man shun me and call me coke head. Mi haffi tell him sey no, a rob mi just get rob," Yellow said. He eventually got to call a colleague, who transported him to hospital. Yellow was treated for a wound to his head from the handgun. The injuries did not warrant Yellow being kept overnight, so he was treated and released.

Yellow's car was never recovered and no one was held in connection with the attack. The taxi driver has long recovered from his physical injuries and is now more selective in accepting jobs. "The people I carry now is people that I know, no strangers," Yellow said.