A TAXI driver who kidnapped an 11-year-old girl from downtown Kingston and took her to Port Royal where she was rescued by the police has been ordered by the Court of Appeal to serve his five-year prison term for kidnapping.
He is Samuel Powell, 35, of 16 Norman Lane, Kingston who admitted to eight previous convictions after he was convicted on the abduction charge in November 2002.
Powell was convicted in 1991 of the offences which included two counts of robbery with aggravation, two counts of illegal possession of firearm, one count of shooting with intent and one count of assaulting a female.
According to evidence given at the trial in the Home Circuit Court, on August 15, 2001, the girl took Powell's taxi downtown Kingston to go to Rema, South St. Andrew.
Powell took the girl several places and finally took her on the Port Royal Road. The girl opened the car door and attempted to jump from the taxi but Powell pulled her back inside, brandished a knife and ordered her to stay in the car. The girl injured herself in her bid to escape.
A police car approached while they were on the Port Royal Road and Powell ran. The police chased and held Powell and the girl pointed him out as the man who had kidnapped her.
Powell was sentenced on November 11, 2002 to five years imprisonment for kidnapping and two years for assault. The sentences ran concurrently.
The Court of Appeal, dismissed Powell's appeal against his conviction and sentence.
When the appeal came for hearing yesterday, Grace Henry, Crown Counsel argued that no errors were made by the judge at Powell's trial.
The court dismissed the appeal and ordered that Powell's sentence should commence on February 11, 2003.
