Man charged with murder in N.S. cabbie's death

A 20-year-old man has been charged in the killing of Dartmouth taxi driver Sergei Kostin last year, Halifax-area RCMP said Thursday.

Chaze Lamar Thompson of Dartmouth is charged with first-degree murder in the death of  Kostin, a longtime cabbie who moved to Canada from Ukraine.

Thompson has been in jail in Dartmouth since last February on unrelated charges. He is expected to appear in provincial court on Friday to face the murder charge.

Kostin, 40, picked up his last fare on Gaston Road in Dartmouth on Jan. 17, 2009, and was never seen again. He was reported missing later that day, and his burned-out taxi was found three days later in North Preston.

His body was discovered in some brush April 1, about a kilometre from where the cab was found. Police have not said how Kostin died.

Kostin had no family in the Halifax area — his wife and other relatives live in his native Ukraine — and he was a driver for Bob's Taxi for about 10 years.

The murder charge gave other cabbies a sense of relief. Elio Doro, a taxi driver for three years, knew Kostin and said that since the slaying, he has refused to work night shifts. He said he won't respond to calls in certain Dartmouth neighbourhoods or North Preston.

"This is a really dangerous job for us," Doro said. "And if the police is working, it's really good for us.

"I was really sad because it happened with him, could be happening with somebody else.  Now I am glad. I'm glad because the police know who did that."

Oleg Damaskin, another friend of Kostin's, has driven for Bob's Taxi for nine years. He stopped working the day Kostin's body was found.

"For me, it was very tough," he said.

Damaskin said he no longer drives taxi at night and he refuses to allow people who are drunk into his cab.

"I have right not to take some passengers if they scare me," he said.

"Drivers have been always talking about this, you know, between us. It's never been forgotten. We always remembered what was happening."

RCMP spokesman Cpl. Joe Taplin said police are happy to have laid a charge in the case.

"It shook up the taxi community, which was very bothersome even to us as a police force because, you know, they're out by themselves a lot, and they rely on each other," Taplin said. "So it was very rewarding to see the charges laid today."

Thompson was arrested on an unrelated matter on Feb. 6, 2009, just weeks after Kostin disappeared. He is to stand trial in Nova Scotia Supreme Court next month on charges that include robbery and possession of a prohibited weapon.