Faran Asif Yassen was treated at the Georgetown
Hospital and several hours after the incident,
barely able to walk, he was sent home.
The car the man was driving, a GR taxi, HA 9855,
which is attached to the Sheriff Street base, was
found about one hour after it was taken in a back
street in Better Hope, East Coast Demerara.
At his Better Hope home yesterday, Yassen, with
at least six stitched wounds to his head, several
visible cuts and a bandaged hand told Stabroek
News of his frightening and near death experience.
Commander-in-Chief
of the Armed Forces
He said that around 4 am, a man stopped him in
front of the Sheriff Night Club and asked what the
fare to Bel Air was. He replied, “$400”, and
the man jumped into the front seat of the car.
Yassen said when he stopped no one was with the
man but seconds after he got into the vehicle
another man jumped into the back seat.
The taxi driver, who has been in the business for
some eight years, said the second man asked him
for a cigarette and he obliged.
He said when he neared Bel Air on the Railway
Embankment, the passenger in the front seat took
out money to pay before directing him to a yard in
Sand Road.
The man said that as soon as the car stopped the
man in the front seat pulled out a revolver and
pointed it at him. “He tell me don’t move,
don’t mek noise or ah gon kill you,” Yassen
said.
In a brave move, Yassen attempted to relieve
the gunman of his weapon but his efforts were in
vain as the second man exited the vehicle and put
a “Rambo knife” to his neck.
Seconds later, the two men were kicking him and
beating him in the head with a gun. They then
collected $16,000, which he had in his pants’
pocket.
Bleeding from the wounds to the head, the taxi
driver was placed in the back seat of the car and
instructed not to move or he would be shot.
He said one of them then drove the car to Clay
Brick Road, Goedverwagting, which is several
villages further up the East Coast, and stopped
just before crossing over a wooden bridge. There,
Yassen said, he beaten mercilessly and instructed
to remove his shirt, which was later used to wrap
the gun.
One of the men proceeded to search the car
trunk, while the other began stabbing Yassen about
his body concentrating the attack on the back of
his neck and shoulder. He told Stabroek News that
despite his injuries and the pain he was in, he
managed to put up a fight and made a mad dash for
safety.
“I exited the back of the car and ran south
along the Goedverwagting Road and they fire three
shot behind me but they miss,” he said, adding
that although there were houses nearby, no one
looked out or went to his aid.
He said that with the man chasing after him he
managed to reach an area referred to as
‘Pradoville’ where he encountered a female
security guard, who instructed him not to enter
the property she was guarding, although he was
covered in blood and begging for help. However,
she rang the Sparendaam Police Station, but was
unsuccessful in contacting the police. At this
point, the two men chasing him, turned around and
went back to the car.
Yassen later contacted his base and his fellow
drivers arrived and took him to the hospital.
While he was at the institution, Yassen said, a
policeman went and spoke to him. After undergoing
an x-ray, having his hand bandaged and several wounds
on his head stitched, the man was
discharged just after 11 am.
He said he had never been the victim of an
armed robbery but had told himself that if ever he
was in such a situation he would do everything in
his power to gain control.
Over the years, several drivers have been
relieved of their vehicles at gunpoint.
Just recently gunmen in a car blocked the path of
a Canter truck belonging to Patsan’s
Trading at Lusignan, Railway Embankment
in a well planned attacked before driving off with
the vehicle.
It was later found abandoned at Cummings Lodge;
a metal canister containing
$3 million was missing from it.