Fresh charges for cabbie
Man who lost taxi licence faces grog, driving counts
A BANNED cabbie who allegedly threatened to rape and kill government staff is now facing a string of grog and driving charges.
Abdul Qadir, who recently lost a three-year legal battle to keep his cab licence following the alleged death threats and years of customer complaints, appeared briefly in the Darwin Local Court.
Supported in court by his son, Qadir’s charges include driving without due care, driving under the influence of alcohol, recklessly endangering serious harm, consuming liquor in an alcohol protected area, bringing liquor into an alcohol protected area and pos- sessing cannabis in a public place.
He has also been charged with allegedly entering Aboriginal land without a permit and possessing a dangerous drug on a separate occasion, as well as a breach of bail.
The precise details of the allegations were not aired in open court on Thursday, but defence lawyer Miles Crawley said the charges would be the subject of a two-day local court hearing later this month.
Qadir recently had his bail conditions altered to allow him to travel to Pakistan, Mr Crawley said.
Qadir, a cabbie for nine years, suffered a major legal setback in June when Judge Greg Smith found the Transport Department was right to strip Qadir of his cab licence in 2014 on the grounds that he was not “fit and proper person” after the Supreme Court referred the matter back to him on appeal.
The courts saw “a great deal of material” alleging Qadir’s misconduct as a cabbie, including repeated complaints of “overcharging, rudeness, fail- ure to produce records and other matters.”
Qadir said some complaints related to an “honest, unintentional mistake”.
He said he paid a number of fines “to avoid the bother of challenging it”.
The alleged threats involved him calling a woman at the Transport Department and saying: “I know where you live. Do you have a boyfriend because I’m going to come around and f**k you?”
On another occasion, he allegedly called a male worker at the Transport Department and said: “I’m going to kill you,” before hanging up.
The decision to take him off the road took into account the alleged threats to Transport Department staff.
Qadir will return to court on October 17. Another hearing is also scheduled for November.
Outside court Qadir declined to comment.