A GEORGETOWN taxi was Tuesday night hijacked and the driver severely beaten; the car was later found abandoned in Plum Park, Sophia. Two persons who were in a house opposite to where the vehicle was discovered were detained by the police for questioning.
The driver of the car, a Toyota Allion with licence plate number HC 6253, was identified as 44-year-old Gladwyn Brandis of 1170 Pigeon Place, South Ruimveldt Park. He is attached to the Green Ice Taxi Service.

Police escort two persons for questioning from a house opposite to where the vehicle was found abandoned

According to reports, the taxi was seen parked on the roadside around 20:00 hrs and residents became suspicious after noticing it there for hours.
Wednesday morning, upon closer inspection, it was discovered that there was an injured man inside the vehicle and a call was made to the taxi base, which in turn contacted the police.
The police subsequently arrived and discovered a muddied, bewildered and injured Brandis. The father of five was then taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was admitted for treatment.
At the scene where the car was abandoned, there were blood marks on a large brick and drops of blood were seen leading to a nearby canal as if Brandis was dragged there after being beaten.
Police are working on a theory that two men accosted Brandis in his vehicle and after realising what was happening, he pelted his keyless remote car starter out the window causing the vehicle to automatically shut down on the roadway since it was discovered in “D” gear. The men, after beating him in the head, then dragged him towards a nearby canal where they threw him hoping that he would have drowned. They then walked away from the scene. He managed to crawl back into his vehicle where he was discovered without his cellphone and car keys.
Residents in the area recalled seeing two men at the vehicle but they later walked away, leaving the car behind.
According to fellow drivers of the service, Brandis has been working for the Green Ice taxi service for almost a decade and he usually does not work in the nights nor pick up random passengers.
“Whoever he picked up was not assigned by the base, because the base has a record of all pick-ups,” one driver said.
Taxi drivers of the Green Ice base are willing to support the police to apprehend the perpetrators.
According to the injured driver’s wife, Nicola Brandis, she last spoke to her husband at 15:30hrs Tuesday after he left home. She said as the night stepped in, she became worried, since he was supposed to attend a cricket game at the National Stadium and when she called at about 21:30 hrs, she realised his cell phone was turned off.
“This [Wednesday] morning I started making an alarm after I didn’t see him home; his brother started looking around and he received a call stating that he was found in Sophia and badly beaten, a lot of lacerations [cuts] to the head,” she said.
After receiving that dreadful information, Mrs. Brandis said she rushed to hospital in time to see her husband being taken out of the police vehicle. “He was covered in mud all over, his entire face was swollen and he was slipping in and out of consciousness.”
When questioned if her husband was ever a victim of hijacking before, she said not to her knowledge, this was the first occasion.