AFTER a night out with friends to celebrate the weekend, a 20-year-old woman thought taking a taxi would be the safest way to get home. But when the taxi driver arrived at her Providence, East Bank Demerara home, he leaned over and kissed her while attempting to place his hands on her leg.

“I pushed him off…. I was shock and I didn’t know what more to do because I was afraid,” Susan (not her real name) told the Guyana Chronicle.
According to Susan, the taxi driver laughed at her and said: “Is what wrong with you? I does pick up plenty other girls from around the place and do the same thing but they don’t mind.”
“The thing that really scared me was the way he was breathing heavily. It felt like he was getting more aggressive and wanted to do something else if I let him. But I wasn’t going to let him do that to me,” she added.
After pushing him off her, she managed to escape and get inside her home . “I ran upstairs and didn’t look back,” she said. “I didn’t want anything to do with him.”
However she did not report the matter to the police since she had hailed the cab on the street and didn’t know the licence plate number nor did she have enough information to identify the driver.
As recently as August, a 12-year-old girl from Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) was reportedly raped by a taxi driver. The teen, who attended an event with three friends, caught a taxi of the type commonly called a ‘$100 car’ or ‘short drop car’ at Co-op Crescent, Mackenzie, Linden at about 22:00h to go to her home.
The taxi driver reportedly drove past the destination and the three friends who were seated in the back seat forced their way out of the car, leaving the victim who was seated in the front seat.
According to reports, the victim was taken to a lonely road at Lower Kara Kara by the taxi driver where she was allegedly forced out of the vehicle and sexually assaulted. The suspect reportedly then dropped the victim off at the Kara Kara bridge where she was left to walk home. The family of the victim then began looking for her after her friends alerted them about the incident.
Susan used this incident as an example of how common these attacks are in today’s society and she decided to speak out because she believes many women hesitate to come forward since they fear they would not be believed.
“I’m pretty sure this happens to a lot of women,” she said. “And no one speaks out about it because they think no one’s going to do something about it.”

SAFETY PROTOCOLS
Susan said that she is still unsure whether she’ll report her case to the police. She feels that she doesn’t have enough information to identify her attacker. After her attack the woman stated that she is now more aware of her surroundings and is following a series of safety protocols when using a taxi. These are:
1. Call a taxi company in advance rather than hail a passing taxi on the street.
2. Sit in the back seat, even when invited to sit up front next to the driver.
3. Write down or take a photo of the taxi’s number plate.
4. When possible, share a taxi with a friend.

Additionally, Howard is urging parents who arrange for their children to be picked up from home and school by taxi to be extra vigilant.
The woman noted that a taxi driver was recently charged for sexually assaulting a seven-year-old girl after he was hired by her mother to pick her up from school and drop her home daily. However, on one occasion when the child was in the car the taxi driver allegedly fondled her.
“Parents need to be more vigilant! ….know what is going on, make sure the person transporting your child is someone you can trust,” Susan warned.