'I wouldn't lie to you,' cabbie told police after frightening break and enter at Kilbride apartment
The woman who was the passenger in a cab allegedly driven by Lulzim Jakupaj says she didn't get a good look at the driver and didn't testify to the cab drive being anything out of the ordinary.
Jakupaj, 33, is facing a single charge of break and enter.
The 22-year-old woman, whose name is covered by a publication ban, testified via telelink Tuesday morning at Supreme Court in St. John's.
She told the court she grabbed a cab after having a few drinks on George Street, around 2:30 a.m. on May 21, 2016.
Asked if she knew which cab she got in, she said 'no.' But she did provide a brief description of the driver.
She said he had dark brown or black hair, was in his early 30s and had darker skin.
The cab driver dropped her off in front of her ex-boyfriend's house on Carondale Drive in the St. John's neighbourhood of Kilbride, she told the court.
"He asked if I wanted him to wait until I got in the house," the woman testified. She said she told him 'no,' paid him and left.
"Did you invite the driver in," Crown prosecutor Dana Sullivan asked.
"No," she said.
Videotaped interview
That story is similar to the one Jakupaj told police around suppertime the same day, when he was being questioned. But Jakupaj said he drove away after dropping the woman off.
"Honest to God, you know I wouldn't lie to you," Jakupaj told two Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officers after he was asked what his female passenger was wearing.
"I know she had a skirt, but other than that, I did not even have a look at her because it was that slow, and as a taxi driver, you don't understand, you're like ... you're just looking to make a dollar."
Jakupaj told police he dropped the woman off on Carondale Street and left the area.
However, testimony from a neighbour in the area contradicts this. He said he witnessed a City Wide Taxi linger after dropping the woman off, before the driver got out of the car and went in the direction of the house in question.
Jonathan Courish, who lived in the apartment, told the court about getting in an altercation with a suspect that morning, resulting in him getting a black eye.
He identified the man as Jakupaj, but under cross-examination admitted he may have been wrong.
Different story told by ex-employer
Meanwhile, Jakupaj's former employer Peter Gulliver told a different story when he took the stand to testify Tuesday afternoon.
Jakupaj told him that he did drive an intoxicated woman to an apartment in Kilbride, but followed her to the door to make sure she was OK, Gulliver testified.
Based on his records, Jakupaj was driving that night and usually took the same taxi — a Camry with the taxi number 170.
The trial is expected to last a week.
Jakupaj is also accused of two sexual assaults that are alleged to have happened last year. He will head to trial on those charges in the fall.
