Court extends remand of taxi driver's murderer

Criminal Court has extended the remand of 59-year-old Gasim Hassan’s killer.

Adham Mohamed was arrested on December 19, and was issued a 15-day remand the next day which was extended previously as well.

The court last extended his remand by seven days, on Friday.

While his remand period was extended, Adham was convicted over an unrelated theft case in late January.

He was sentenced to one year and 12 months, over the theft which is to have taken place on 25th August 2016.

Adham, who police revealed has a long criminal history, has confessed to Gasim’s murder.

While Gasim was stabbed to death on 4th December 2019, Adham claims that he never intended to kill the taxi driver but “only to rob him.”

He is to have made multiple mugging attempts earlier that day, which he does to support his drug addiction, and had finally acquired a knife from a café in Hulhumalé which was used to attack Gasim.

Adham met Gasim at the taxi queue at Velana International Airport, after having gone there to try his luck as he failed to find a victim in Hulhumalé. Investigators said that the culprit had targeted older men at the taxi queue, so as to assert power over them.

However, Gasim struggled after Adham grabbed him from behind and held the knife to his throat as they reached the destination which is located in one of the darker roads. Police said that Gasim began screaming at this point, and Adham ended up stabbing him “once” in the neck.

Police also confirmed that Gasim was stabbed once, but that he had defence wounds on his hands where he grabbed the knife by the blade in order to escape.

Gasim was found lying face-down in a puddle of blood on the road.