Dubai: A taxi driver has been accused of locking up two women in the back seat of his vehicle for a while after they refused to pay him Dh20 for a 100-meter ride.
The 27-year-old Indian driver was said to have locked the doors of his taxi and kept the women inside his vehicle after they refused to pay him the fare in May.
The women hailed the taxi and jumped in, according to records, before he drove them for 100 metres without starting the meter.
The women were heading to a hotel, whose security guards called the police and informed them what had happened.
Prosecutors accused the suspect of locking the women in his cab for a short period of time.
The driver pleaded not guilty and dismissed his accusation before the Dubai Court of First Instance.
A Sri Lankan security guard testified to prosecutors that one of the women asked the hotel’s concierge for assistance.
“I went to the front of the hotel … one of the women was outside trying to open the back door while her friend was locked inside. I walked towards the window from the driver’s side and asked him to open the door and let the woman get out. He refused. Then I asked him to put down his window and, when he did, I told him to open the door and let her go or I would call the police. The driver then immediately opened the main lock and the woman in the back seat got out of the car. The suspect also stepped out and claimed that he had locked the women in his vehicle because they refused to pay him Dh20 for the fare. One of the women said she did not mind paying the money and that money was not the issue … but the problem was that he drove them for nearly 100 metres without starting the meter. When one of the women tried to take a photo of the driver to identify him later and show it to the police, the Indian suspect pretended that he wanted to hit her and prevented her from taking his photo. The suspect then jumped into his car and drove off … the women provided the police with the car’s number plate,” the guard claimed to prosecutors.
The trial continues.
