Taxi driver to appear in court for rape of passengers

A KWAZULU-NATAL taxi driver charged with raping two female passengers will appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court tomorrow.

The driver, who cannot be identified as he has not pleaded, his assistant and their two friends allegedly gang-raped two women who were on their way to work on August 21.

The taxi driver will face two counts of rape and robbery with aggravating circumstances.

The two women, both students, boarded a taxi operating in the Durban city centre when they were abducted and raped.

The women survived when one of them jumped out of the speeding taxi near Durban University of Technology’s Steve Biko campus.

Campus security guards were able to take a number plate from the taxi, and subsequently notified police.

Police spokeswoman Lieutenant Nqobile Gwala said they managed to trace one suspect and were still looking for others.

“A taxi driver was arrested and linked to the crime while his alleged accomplices fled. He will appear in court charged with rape,” Gwala said.

SA National Taxi Council KwaZulu-Natal chairman Boy Zondi said they have had numerous complaints about South and North Beach Taxi Association drivers and their assistants.

“Passengers have complained that the taxi bosses hire whoonga addicts to drive the taxis.

These thugs at night rob and harass passengers. We have since put in measures where both the drivers and anybody assisting them will wear uniforms,” said Zondi yesterday.

One of the women, who was severely injured during the attack, said she was horrified at what had happened to her and a friend.

“I’m having sleepless nights and I still visualise every little detail of the attack. I really thought we were going to die because those men after raping us made it clear that they were going to take us to the township to kill us,” said the woman, who is still in hospital.

The women were taken to the KwaMashu taxi rank where their attackers allegedly held them at gunpoint, locked the taxi and played loud music before raping them. They were subsequently robbed off their belongings.