A twenty-seven-year-old taxi service owner yesterday pleaded not guilty to the charge of unlawful assault when he appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson.
It was alleged that on January 11, Sarfraz Hydar-Alie, who owns Diplomatic Cabs, unlawfully assaulted Otesha Niles.
Niles, who was employed by Hydar-Alie as a dispatcher at the time, stated that he had three weeks outstanding salary for her and when she approached him about it he pushed her out of the way.
“My worship, dis man owe me fuh about three weeks an he aint want pay me. When I approach he about it, he seh I am fired and then push me out de way.” Niles further stated that she then reported the matter to the Ministry of Labour and subsequently to the police.
Sarfraz Hydar-Alie on the other hand stated that Niles had left the job and he kept calling her repeatedly to uplift a part of the outstanding $27,000 he had for her. He also stated that he did not pay her because “she had left the job.”
Police prosecutor Denise Griffith, however, argued that whether or not Niles had left the job, she would have still been entitled to her salary since she had already worked for the specified period leading up to the conflict.
The lawyer representing Hydar-Alie in his defensc asked the magistrate to allow Hydar-Alie to be placed on his own bail. He further stated that his client was a devout Muslim and couldn’t do such a thing.
He went on to say that his client is so devoted to the cause of good that his address is at the Mosque, 295 Church Street, Queenstown.
Hydar-Alie was placed on $10,000 bail and is to return to court on January 28.
