from Sweden
WORLDWIDE TAXI FOCUS from Italy
GIRL ACCUSED OF LURING CABBIE TO DEATH FOR ALLEGEDLY RAPING HER
A Swedish girl of 16 has been accused of luring a taxi driver into a secluded forest and killing him in revenge for allegedly raping her when she was 14. She and her four brothers, aged between 16 and 18, are on trial accused of murdering the 26-year-old man. The four brothers deny all charges against them, but the girl admitted that she lured him to the secluded area, thinking he would be beaten up. The girl allegedly texted the taxi driver, who has not been named, asking him to meet her with a bottle of vodka near a nature reserve in March After the pair met, the four brothers allegedly strangled him and hanged him with a rope noose, Swedish newspaper Fria Tider reported. Prosecutors said that this was likely to have meant he severely suffered in his final moments alive. Several search parties were sent out to find the taxi driver, who was only found several weeks later when his car was found hidden in a nearby snowdrift. Police said they found the defendants’ DNA in the cabbie’s car and on the rope used to hang him. Records revealed they had transferred money from his bank accounts to their own. Police also allegedly found some of his belongings in their home, the newspaper reported. Prosecutors in Sweden’s Uppsala District Court said the main motive for the alleged murder was revenge, as the girl had made a report about the driver allegedly raping her in February last year which was not followed up. The brothers reportedly told several of their friends that they would be killing a rapist, and later told them that they had done so. Andreas Pallinder, head of investigations at the Uppsala police, admitted that his force should’ve taken the rape report seriously. “If you take it to its extreme, theoretically we could have prevented a murder,” he said at a press conference. Ebru Tok, a lawyer representing the taxi driver’s family, previously said: “The family is in great sadness and shocked by the unique situation of such young people being suspected of the murder. “They hope that the preliminary investigation will clarify the circumstances of the case.”
76
CABBIES STRIKE AGAINST GOVERNMENT DECREE ON NEW LICENCES
Taxi drivers in Italy went on strike on 10 October,
in
opposition to a part of the government’s so-called ‘Asset decree’ that allows local authorities to issue up to 20 per cent more licences in response to an increased demand for taxi services. However, the owners of these new permits must use electric or hybrid cars. The measure, together with a proposed deregulation of the sector, have once again infuriated taxi drivers from across the country. Taxi unions, who represent a highly protected sector of the economy, called the strike. Taxi union, Usb, which criticised the decree, cautioned against the potential surge in licences without concrete data. The strike was organised in major Italian cities, including Rome, Milan, Turin, and Naples, bringing taxi services to a standstill. In a country where taxi services are an integral part of day-to-day life, this was a bold move by the drivers. Business Minister, Adolfo Urso, has said the protest is “incomprehensible”, recalling how the unions initially gave the green light to the decree when they were summoned for consultations by the government. Vice Premier and Minister of Transport, Matteo Salvini, described the strike as the ‘minority of the minority’. He noted that the majority of taxi unions were involved in the decree’s drafting and had offered their criticism and collaboration. This suggests that the strike might not be as widespread or as supported within the taxi industry as it initially seemed. Meanwhile, consumer advocacy group Codacons, deemed the strike a failure. They claimed that people did not experience any significant disruption from a regular day.
This raises questions about the
effectiveness of the strike and its impact on the ongoing debate around the decree.
NOVEMBER 2023 PHTM
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