Man who robbed teenager offering ‘unofficial’ taxi services via Facebook jailed for over four years

Image credit: Dorset Police

A man who robbed a teenager after offering ‘unofficial’ taxi services via Facebook has been jailed for over four years in Bournemouth.

Volkan Cara Ertas, 28, was sentenced to four years and four months in prison at Bournemouth Crown Court on Wednesday 16 November after he was found guilty of a charge of attempted robbery.

Ertas’ victim, who was 17 years' old at the time of the incident on Sunday 23 January 2022, had advertised on a Facebook group offering ‘unofficial’ taxi services and lifts for people in the Bournemouth and Poole area.

The defendant contacted him using a false name and arranged to be picked up from a location in the Wallisdown area at 7.45pm that evening.

After directing his victim to two different locations in the Bournemouth area, Ertas told him to head back toward Wallisdown and began to discuss the fare that was owed. He asked for the teenager’s bank details and said his cousin had deposited £200 into the account. He said £30 was to pay the fare and the victim needed to withdraw the remaining £170 and give it to him.

The victim questioned this, at which point Ertas began to get angry and claimed he was owed £170.

Ertas told his victim that he had a knife and lifted up his waistband, although the teenager could not clearly see whether there was a knife in there.

The victim was told to go to a cash machine and attempted to withdraw the money but was unable to. He said he would get someone else to come and give him the money so called a friend who lived nearby.

The friend arrived and confronted the defendant, who fled the scene.

Ertas was subsequently identified by officers from CCTV and dashcam footage.

As well as being given a prison sentence, Ertas was also made the subject of a restraining order for a period of ten years, which prevented him from contacting his victim.

Detective Constable Christian Bryant, of Dorset Police’s Priority Crime Team, said: “This was an extremely frightening incident for the young victim in this case and I am pleased that through our investigative work we were able to identify the offender responsible and bring him before the court.”