Taxi driver charged with murder of Venezuelan woman

Jul 17, 2024 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

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– was accused of killing reputed wife in 2008

Kaieteur News – Haslyn Hodge, a taxi driver formerly based at a popular city hotel, was remanded on Tuesday to prison for the murder of Venezuelan woman, Evelyn Alfonzo Alves.

Hodge of Prospect, East Bank Demerara, appeared at the Diamond Magistrates’ Court before Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman who read the indictable charge to him. He was not required to plea to the charge and was subsequently remanded.  He is scheduled to return to court on August 2, 2024.

Reports are that Alves was found shot dead aback of Diamond, East Bank Demerara (EBD) on the morning of Sunday July 7,2024.  She was found on the road with a gunshot wound to her head. Initial reports by Kaieteur News on Alves’ murder had revealed that she was last seen alive around 21:00hrs on Saturday July 6.  Relatives said that she was having a few drinks with them when she received a call and left in a white car, a taxi that she regularly uses.

Relatives further disclosed that Alves last made contact with a family member around 00:00 hrs. She reportedly told them that she was with her Guyanese boyfriend whom she has been dating for some time and did not seem in any distress but she never returned that evening.  Early the following morning, her body was discovered lying face down in a pool of blood along a road in the New Diamond Housing Scheme. There was a gunshot wound to the back of her head and her cellphone was found next to her body. Police also recovered a 9MM spent shell from the scene.

It did not take long for them to arrest the prime suspect. Kaieteur News understands from sources that the cellphone found next to her body provided detectives key clues which led them to his arrest. Hodge is no stranger to the law and has in the past been accused of rape and even murdering his child mother, Tameshsa Riddle, in 2008.

Riddle was reportedly stifled with a pillow according to police.  Hodge was charged with her murder just days after he was freed from a rape charge. He spent the next four years on remand but was freed in 2012 after the jury upheld a no case submission against him.

Alves’ murder comes days after this newspaper reported on the alleged rape and kidnapping of a woman. On July 13, 2024, Kaieteur News had reported Danello was allegedly kidnapped, robbed, shot and left for dead by a taxi driver based at a popular city hotel.

She claimed that the crime took place on April 10, 2024 during a rainy evening. Danello said that on that night, she had planned to party so she stacked on cash and left her home. Her first stop was at the popular hotel for dinner. She then left the hotel in the taxi driver’s SUV. She told Kaieteur News that it was not the first time she travelled with the taxi driver because she frequents the hotel. “He was always neatly dressed and acted in a professional manner (translated from Spanish),” the woman said while relating that, she trusted the taxi base at the hotel because it was like an executive service.

On April 10, however, the taxi driver reportedly had other plans for Danello. Instead of taking her to her destination, he locked the woman in and drove her at gunpoint to a lonely area aback of Diamond where he robbed and tried to kill the Venezuelan national.

He reportedly held her at gunpoint and demanded that she hands over her purse and other valuables. Danello claimed that she had told him to take what he wanted but spare her life. He took the purse which had her house keys, the cash, her ID card and some other documents along with her phone but according to the woman, it seemed as if he had no intention of letting her leave alive because he tried shooting her to the head.

“El trata de dispararme, para matarme verdad, o sea, el me disparo verdad como dos tres cuatro veces con la pistola pero no salio nada la pistola hizo (imitates the sound the gun made) (He tried to shoot me to kill me right … he tried to shoot like two, three, four times but nothing came out, the gun made (imitates the sound that the gun made)”, she told Kaieteur News.

It could be that the gun had jammed but the woman said that she believed at the time that it did not have any bullets. Instead of letting her go, the suspect tried to strangle her with a belt. “El agarro y quito la correa y me intento ahorcar y bueno dios me dio fuerza y pelee con el, le di unas patadas en las bolas (He held me and took off his belt and tried to strangle me but God gave me strength and I fought with him, I give him some kicks in the balls,” she recounted).

While she fought for her life, she also received some blows to her body. The most painful she said was to her breasts because a surgery was performed on them.

During the fight for survival, the taxi driver reportedly lost a chain which he was wearing and for a few seconds, let go of her to look for it. She recalled that he asked her where the chain was and it was that moment that she was able to escape his grip and exited the car into the pouring rain.

She recounted running a short distance away when the taxi driver told her that he was going to kill her because she knows his face and where he works. It was at this point that man reportedly drew his gun again and shot at her. This time the gun went off and she ran for her life. She claimed that at the time, she did not know she was hit but it occurred to her that she might be unable to escape him. “Yo me tire pa el monte (I threw myself in some bushes),” the Venezuelan woman said as she recalled seeing the taxi driver exiting the SUV with a torchlight and searching around the area.

She reportedly remained still in the bushes until he re-entered the vehicle and left. She then got up and walked in the pouring rain until she met a man selling at a small stand along the road. There she asked for help but the man said he had no cell phone to give her a call but advised her to wait until the rain was over for him to take her to a hospital.

Fearful that he too might harm her, she continued to walk in the rain. Cars passed by, she said, but she was reluctant to accept any help from the drivers. One man, however, stopped and identified himself as a policeman. “Y me llevo a la (Diamond) police station (and he carried me to the police station)”. She said that when she arrived there, she realized that the attempt on her life took place in close proximity to the police station.

After seeing her condition, she was advised to go to a hospital. The policeman who picked her up took her to the closest hospital and she was admitted. There she learnt that a bullet entered one of her arms and was lodged in her back. Doctors were unable to remove the warhead. She had also sustained a fractured rib from the blows she received. Detectives subsequently took a statement from her.

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• court, Diana Danello, Evelyn Alfonzo Alves, Haslyn Hodge, murder, remanded

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