Taxi driver survives plunge down precipice

A MAUSICA taxi-driver is now resting comfortably at home after surviving an 80-foot fall down the side of a precipice. And all of this happened while his hands were tied behind his back and he was clad only in his socks and jockey shorts. At around 1.30 pm on Monday, taxi driver Cuthbert Humphreys, 59, was plying his  Nissan B15 for hire in the Cane Farm/Dinsley Gardens area when four men boarded his car. Sitting in the front seat was Russel Kelly, 59, of Montegue Gardens and to the back were three young men. As the car drove out from the taxi stand, one of the men in the backseat asked to be taken to Bishops High School at Sunrise Drive, Dinsley. When the car turned on to Sunrise Drive, the man sitting behind the driver locked his neck, placed a gun to his head, and ordered him to stop. The man to the far left then jumped out the car, pulled open the front door and ordered Kelly to run. They then ordered Humphreys into the back seat and drove off. Acting on a report, officers went to the taxi stand where they secured a car number and sent out a flash. Sometime later, the car was spotted on Demerara Road, Wallerfield where it crashed into a ditch after a chase.

Two teens were held, while a third man escaped. Meanwhile, police were called into the Heights of Guanapo, where a badly bruised Humphreys was found. Humphreys explained that he was stripped down to his jockey shorts and socks and with his hands tied behind his back he was thrown down a precipice. He managed to free himself, climbed out of the precipice and got to a house in the area where a resident gave him a pants and jersey. The resident then contacted the police. He was taken to the Arima District Hospital and later discharged. Two youths, aged 18 and 19 of La Horquetta and Malabar respectively, are to appear before several identification parades in connection with the incident. They are expected to appear at the Arima Magistrates’ Court today. A team of officers led by Corporal Wayne Winston spearheaded the exercise.