Crime | Taxi driver assaulted and robbed by passenger

A taxi driver was reportedly assaulted and robbed by a passenger during the early hours of last Friday, a Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesperson stated during a press conference yesterday.

According to the case report, the taxi driver was driving around the roundabout of Istmo in Cotai at 3 a.m. when a passenger hailed the taxi and asked for the driver to take him to the Outer Harbor Ferry Terminal.

During the trip, the passenger, who was identified as a 20-something-year-old hairstylist, started an argument with the driver, accusing him of trying to take the longer route to reach the destination.

Upon arrival at the Ferry Terminal, the taximeter displayed a fee of MOP70, which the driver requested from the passenger. The passenger handed him a HKD100 bank note. After receiving the change, the passenger started to shout, saying that he had not given a HKD100 bill but, instead, a HKD1,000 bill, and initiated an argument that escalated quickly, with the passenger pushing the driver several times.

At this moment, the driver rushed out of the car and tried to search for a police officer nearby. The passenger took the opportunity to steal some cash that was stored near the driver’s seat.

After noticing that the passenger was trying to reach for something in the car, the driver rushed back, but the passenger had already fled, taking with him a sum of about MOP2,500, according to the driver’s statement.

After the driver filed a complaint with the police, the police force initiated a search for the suspect, and caught him trying to reenter Macau through the same ferry terminal the very next evening.

Questioned by the PJ, the suspect admitted to the crime, stating that he had done it “out of anger.”

He also said that he had immediately spent the money that he had stolen from the driver.

In a separate report by the police, on the night of October 27 at the Estrada da Baía de Nossa Senhora da Esperança, a man from the mainland claims to have been robbed by an attacker who used a knife to threaten him.

The man said he had been walking around that street and kneeled down to tie his shoelaces, placing a bag that he was carrying on the floor next to him. When he was preparing to stand-up, he noticed a man standing before him, pointing a knife and calling for him to hand over the bag.

The victim resisted, but under the threat of the knife, he eventually let the bag go and started shouting for help.

The attacker then tried to flee the scene by running towards the pedestrian flyover located on that street.

Realizing the situation, a taxi driver passing by tried to pursue the attacker by car, stopping near the flyover and continuing to pursue the attacker alongside the victim on foot.

The attacker, feeling under threat by the two men, eventually dropped the bag and ran away.

There was no report of any loss by the victim and the PJ is still trying to identify and locate the robber.