‘Words can’t explain what I went through’
Matthew Shivtahal
Matthew Shivtahal

-abducted driver recounts experience with escapees

IT was like a nightmare for him – the experience of being abducted by four escaped prisoners who were on the verge of murdering him, cold-bloodedly, in the backlands.
“I don’t have words to explain what I feel and what I went through; pain, scared for my life. It is overwhelming.
To go through what I went through and come out alive is just God’s grace,” said 22-year- old taxi driver, Matthew Shivtahal, who was abducted by four escaped prisoners on Sunday evening following a prison break in Georgetown.
He was able to return to the city after being abducted and subsequently released by the escaped prisoners on Sunday evening.

In an interview with reporters on Tuesday morning, Shivtahal recounted seven life-threatening and tension-filled hours of being in the midst of the country’s most notorious gang presently.

“I cross over like four swamps and a set of bridges. I cut up my foot” he said, pointing to his badly bruised feet.

The 22-year-old taxi driver related that about 16:35hrs on Sunday afternoon he was heading to Georgetown from Industry, on the East Coast, with passengers. He said that when he reached Camp Street, he heard gunshots and instinctively swung on Broad Street to avoid whatever commotion was happening.

But that turned out to be disastrous for him.
“…next thing I know they [the escaped prisoners] got guns to my head. I had a lady and some children in the car and they take out them, push me back inside the car and we went to South backlands” he recalled.

Shivtahal was taken hostage by four men who had just escaped from the Georgetown Prison, a few corners away from where they boarded his Toyota two-12 vehicle. He was then forced by the escapees, to drive to North Ruimveldt, where the car was abandoned and he was again coerced to accompany them on an unknown journey. He said the journey began about midnight on Sunday.

“From there, we keep going down south; keep walking south, crossing a lot of bridges and keep going down till to Land of Canaan seven-door sluice” he said, adding that upon arrival there, they encountered a trench which they had to swim over.
Fortunately, Shivtahal could not swim and told the prisoners that it was impossible for him to cross. He said that at this point, the men said that it would be best to kill him since he would slow them down.

“They said before I slow them down is best they kill me. [But] I keep begging them. I tell them I got a one-year-old son; that I wouldn’t like he to grow up without a father,” the young father recalled. He said that because of his plea, the escapees told him that: “we gonna let you go.” He remembered one of the men saying they wouldn’t bother to kill him. Seemingly relieved, but still tense in tone, the young man told reporters that the man pointed in the north-eastern direction and told him to walk towards the dam and he would be able to get out of the backdam.

“I cross over like four swamps and a set of bridges. I cut up my foot” he said, pointing to his badly bruised feet. On Monday evening, just before midnight, the young man navigated his way to the East Coast Public Road, via Annandale, where he encountered a police officer who escorted him to the Vigilance Police Station.

“It is overwhelming. To go through what I went through and come out alive is just God’s grace. It was just joy to find land,” a visibly shaken Shivtahal said. He also recalled the men using cell phones throughout the journey and two of them being armed with what appeared to be nine-millimetre pistols. He was not privy to conversations they were having on the phones and when they did engage persons on the phone, one of the other three guarded him some distance away.

The young man, who said he was not harmed by the men, shared that at intervals, the escapees jogged and when they were tired, they walked. For the entirety of the journey, none of the men ate or consumed water. With regard to where the escapees are heading, Shivtahal offered that: “They don’t know the area but they cutting and going. They finding places where they know. Some of them said they going down the highway.” Asked to describe the posture of the men, the 22-year old said that to him, “they have no fear of being captured.”

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