St Augustine MP calls for increased police surveillance

Within the last three days in the St Augustine constituency there have been two kidnappings, one attempted kidnapping and two robberies.

Dookeran yesterday visited the families of the kidnap victims who are; Dayne Paladee, son of the owner of Pennywise who was kidnapped yesterday and Vanessa Sookhai Singh, CEO of Jo-Sing Pasta Products. There was also the robbery and shooting incident of a UWI guard.

Dookeran said that it was really distressing to see the emotional suffering that the families of kidnap victims were undergoing.

"I know one of them (Mohan Paladee, owner of Pennywise) for the last 20 years. He built himself up from a market vendor into a small business. He is extremely community conscious and is very generous in his support to underprivileged groups. He has lived a strong spiritual and moral life and it was a very sad meeting. It was heart-rending to hear him ask the question ‘What else can I do for my country and what price do I have to pay for that’. Dookeran said he was sure that many law-abiding citizens were asking the same question. "We are doing everything that is right in terms of building this country and we have to go through this trauma, such as having one’s son kidnapped," he lamented. Dookeran said father of the victim, Mohan Paladee asked him whether he could make an appeal to the Prime Minister to take a more active interest in these kidnapping cases. "He (Paladee) said there was a need for those in authority to give personal attention to these matters in addition to what the Police Service is doing because it is unbearable," Dookeran stated.

He said Vanessa Sookhai’s mother was in great distress, though she was encouraged by his visit. He said he had been in touch with the police in the St Augustine area and had written to them, asking them to increase their surveillance of some of the areas of the constituency. "I can only make an appeal to the kidnappers to act with civility," he said. Dookeran said he had no negative comments about the way the Police were handling the two matters.

However he believed that Government should show more sensitivity to the issue of kidnapping which brought deep human suffering. He said Government needed to go beyond the police response and deal with the trauma which victims were suffering.