Relatives offer reward for recovery of hijacked Mahaica taxi

Relatives of a Mahaica taxi-driver whose car was hijacked last Friday are offering a $200,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the vehicle.

Since the incident, driver Ivor Muir has sunk into a state of depression prompting the family to offer the reward. The father of four who recently bought the car said he would have preferred to die than survive the ordeal and punish, according to his mother-in-law, Danmattie Persaud.

Yesterday the woman told Stabroek News that Muir had endured “rough” days in the past and had worked as a vendor at Bourda Market before he bought the $1.3M dark blue Toyota AT 192 Carina motorcar number HB 4528. She said that in addition to supporting his wife and their two children, Muir pays monthly child support through the court for two other children from a previous relationship. “This thing really affect him now he home thinking and saying all kind of things. It is not easy getting by and he has commitments and other things, the car was a big reason he got by,” Persaud said. The woman added that the family was interested in any information that would lead them to the car. She said they decided to offer a reward rather than just let the car go and they hoped that only persons with concrete information would call.

Police had reported last week that Muir was robbed of his car, $8,000 and a cell phone at Mosquito Hall Public Road, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara, by four men, one of whom was armed with a gun. Muir was working when the men hired him at the Mahaica Market to go to Unity, Mahaica. Near the market, one of the men wrapped a shoelace around Muir’s neck and began choking him, forcing him to stop the vehicle. The armed bandit then struck Muir on the head with the firearm. A police press release also said the men bound Muir and put him to lie on the back seat of the vehicle. They then drove him to the Bee Hive Seawall, threw him out and escaped with the car.

Muir’s family can be contacted at telephone numbers 660-9264 and 668-7800.