Shamal Mohamed, 43, known as ‘Crab Man’ of Number 71 Village, was committed to stand trial in the High Court after Magistrate Rabindranauth Singh ruled that a prima facie case was made against him.

Mohammed, who is represented by Attorney-at-law Chandra Sohan, was refused bail and remains on remand, while additional Preliminary Inquiry (PI) into two counts of attempted murder continues. Police had charged the taxi driver with abduction, which alleged that on January 5, 2015 at Number 70 Village, Corentyne, he abducted Bhartie Udho with intent to secretly or wrongfully confine the woman.

Police Inspector Orin Joseph led several witnesses, who testified that the defendant had previously shared a relationship with the 21-year-old woman but the relationship ended after the virtual complainant discovered that Mohammed was a married man.

However, the taxi driver was not to be booted and developed a habit of forcing the woman into his car and driving to bushy areas along the upper Corentyne coast line, where he would keep her against her will, while pleading with her to recommence the relationship, or suffer the consequence of death.

On January 5, 2015, at about 12:30hrs, the complainant’s younger sister had accompanied her to the village bus stop, where she took a minibus to the Number 56 Primary school but as soon as she entered the public vehicle, the defendant, hurriedly exited his car and pulled her from the back seat of the bus, where she had been seated.

Despite the intervention of other passengers, the defendant was successful in removing the teacher. The court heard that he took her to his backyard which had overgrown bushes and while there, he ordered that she use his cellular phone to telephone the Springlands Police station and inform ranks that she had willingly left with him. However, before the conversation ended, the phone was disconnected, as it was low on credit.

After he left to purchase additional credit to activate his mobile service, the complainant took the opportunity to contact her parents and she escaped.