Transport boss calls for urgent action after another taxi driver killed
The taxi industry has been plunged into mourning once again, following the killing of another cabbie on Thursday.
The deceased has been identified as 38-year-old Courtney Clarke, a resident of Seaview Gardens, Kingston 11.
READ: Taxi driver shot dead on Washington Boulevard
“This has been a sad couple of days for the sector, another taxi driver was killed on Monday, this is too much now,” president of the Transport Operators Development Sustainable Services (TODSS), told OBSERVER ONLINE.
Reports are that around 11:25 am, Clarke was in his white Toyota Probox on Washington Boulevard in St Andrew when he was attacked by gunmen.
The gunmen shot Clarke multiple times in the upper body before fleeing. Clarke was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Newman said that Clarke’s death made it at least eight cabbies killed since the start of the year.
“I am making a strong call to the Ministry of National Security to have a sit down to address these serious problems in regards to the security of the sector. Something needs to be done to identify a strategy to stop this from happening, maybe dash cams, panic buttons, but transport drivers need to find a way to deter these murders.”
Clarke is the second taxi operator killed since the start of the week. On Monday, 37-year-old taxi operator Eucal ‘Twin’ Dwyer of New Works was killed along with a passenger, 53-year-old Patricia ‘Pat’ Stewart, in Robins River, Westmoreland.
Dwyer is said to have been a witness in a case that is ongoing in the Westmoreland Circuit Court where his twin brother was shot dead in May 2020, and he was shot and injured.