Alleged kidnapper to turn State witness

AN ALLEGED kidnapper is likely to be State witness in the alleged murder of kidnap victim Darrell Chotoo, who was kidnapped for a $300,000 ransom from his El Socorro home on the morning of June 30.

Senior police officials told Newsday yesterday that while the 23-year-old Cap-de-Ville man will definitely be charged with Chotoo’s kidnapping, they have no evidence to charge him with the murder but that the man has information that can assist them with Chotoo’s alleged murder. Yesterday, the alleged kidnapper was taken to the Caroni area where he spent several hours with a party of North Eastern Division police officers trying to find Chotoo’s body. Chotoo’s body was not found and police say the corpse is likely to be in a lake off the Caroni River banks. The man — who was shot in the Wallerfield, Arima, area on July 16 and discharged Tuesday - along with the police are to return to the Caroni area today in another effort to find the body.

Police said they were told that Chotoo, 25, had died as a result of a bullet wound to the chest on the same day of the kidnapping. Following the revelation that Chotoo might be dead, police charged two men,  Kasib “Jep” Celestine and Nicholas Smith with kidnapping Chotoo and demanding money by menaces respectively. Three other men, whose ages range between 19 and 28, of El Socorro and San Juan, were arrested last Thursday morning in connection with the Chotoo kidnapping.  They were released on Saturday evening pending further investigations.