Missing taxi driver’s family is worried sick

Last Friday night, 30-year-old taxi driver Rushane Wilkins left his home at Byndloss district in Linstead, St Catherine, to pick up a friend at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston. He has not been seen since, and his family is very worried.

"When I asked which friend [he was going to pick up], he didn't state the friend's name," said Wilkins' partner, Britayla Blackwood. "He told me that the plane was landing about 11 p.m., but the friend wanted him to leave about 8:30 p.m. The camera at the house showed that he left minutes after 8:30 p.m. Normally when he is on the road, we are on the road right through. I sent him a text ... at 9:13 p.m. The reply that I got was not like him. He just responded and said OK."

Blackwood said when she got home about two hours later, she sent him another text message, but she did not get a response. She said the message was not delivered. She said that that was strange as Wilkins was never one to be out of data.

"I texted him multiple times, and it was just one tick, and this is not just like him at all. He has never sleep out, and he always communicate with me. The next morning I told my mom to call him because I didn't have any credit. Normally when any of my family call, he would call me same time because he would think something was wrong. Everybody calling him and no one has gotten through," said Blackwood.

On Saturday, a missing person's report was filed at the Linstead Police Station. Hours later, Wilkins' white Toyota Probox motor car was found ablaze in Pleasant Hill, St Catherine.

"This is really hard because he is not the type to just go away like that. Up to now we don't know who the friend is, and no one has reached out to the family to say that they were the friend that he was supposed to pick up. This is hard, and we just want him back home safe and sound. I have a six-month-old child for him, and he also has a four-year-old, and they need their father," said Blackwood.

Wilkin's sister, Megan, is also pleading with those responsible for her brother's disappearance to send him home to his family, who is now in distress.

"We love him, and we want him home. The taxi men in Linstead and the head of the association have joined in on the search for him. We have searched through bushes, and so on, but nothing still," said the concerned sister. "The police have tracked his phone to a community in east Kingston. We just want him home."

Anyone with information on the disappearance of Rushane Wilkins is being asked to contact 119 or the Linstead Police Station at 876-985-2285.