29 Jan 2009

Police still unable to interview bashed taxi driver

9:11 pm on 29 January 2009

Police are still not able to interview a Taranaki taxi driver kidnapped, beaten and left locked in the boot of his cab, despite his improving health.

Tony Brosnan, 49, was found in a carport on school grounds at Urenui, 30km northeast of New Plymouth, last Friday.

The Waitara man had suffered a severe head injury. His condition has been updated from critical to serious and he has been taken off a ventilator.

However, Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Coward says Mr Brosnan has not yet woken up.

Police are concentrating on other lines of inquiry in the meantime, including checking cellphone calls around the time Mr Brosnan was attacked.

Mr Brosnan had been working an overnight shift and his last call to his dispatcher at Egmont City Cabs was before midnight on Thursday.

Mr Coward says a couple of sightings of Mr Brosnan have been confirmed, but others remain unproven and a hitchhiker seen in the area at the time has not come forward.