The taxi driver and alleged rapist who stabbed a 16-year-old girl in Region Two on Monday afternoon was hospitalized after consuming gasoline before being detained by police on Tuesday.
Commander of Regional Police Division #2 Superintendent Ravindra Stanley told Stabroek News yesterday that the man was arrested on Tuesday and ranks received information that he had ingested a substance. They asked the man whether he ingested a substance and he admitted that it was gasoline.
He was subsequently transported to the Suddie Regional Hospital where he was admitted and is expected to be discharged from the hospital today.
Stanley further mentioned that the man is expected to be charged on Monday.
The man was accused of raping the 16-year-old student in 2023. According to the police report, on Monday, the 16-year-old girl and her sister were on a public road when the taxi driver dangerously drove his car in their path.
The sisters navigated away from the suspect’s vehicle and were on their way to make a police report when they noticed that the suspect was following the vehicle they were in, the police were told.
The police said the suspect passed them then swerved into the path of the vehicle, forcing it to stop. The police said the suspect then approached with a knife, prompting the driver of the car the sisters were in to flee.
The suspect then stabbed the teen who was sitting in the front passenger seat, the police said, and escaped on foot, leaving his vehicle behind. Public-spirited citizens transported the injured teen to the hospital. According to reports, she sustained seven stab wounds – to her left chest, left arm, left and right shoulder, and left hand. She is still hospitalised, but currently listed as stable.
