KIDNAPPED ON EVE OF EXAM

Several hours later, to the surprise of policemen at the Sangre Grande Police Station, a car pulled up and Rachael, in torn clothes, bare feet, trembling and crying, was brought into the police station by three gardeners who had found her in their garden at Damarie Hill, Guaico, crying for help. They said she was totally disoriented and running in different directions when they found her.

Meanwhile, her distraught mother, Sylvia Ramsaran, was with the police searching for Rachael who had been kidnapped Tuesday night from the family’s Railway Extension home in Sangre Grande.

According to reports, Rachael, a Form Six student of St Augustine Girls’ High School, went to sleep at around 9 pm after studying for her English Language A’ Level examination scheduled for yesterday

Sylvia Ramsaran, Secretary at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, said she secured the front gate of their home and both she and Rachael retired to bed in their separate bedrooms.

Ramsaran said she usually checks on her daughter to ensure she was alright, particularly as she was studying. Ramsaran reported that around 12.30 am, she checked and saw Rachael asleep, but around 4.30 am when she checked again, the girl was nowhere to be seen.

She called out to Rachael but got no response. She saw the louvres in Rachael’s bedroom window were missing; the main gate was open and the door to Rachael’s room was broken into.

Ramsaran immediately called the Sangre Grande police on the phone and reported the disappearance of her daughter.

A party of police officers headed by Supt Ruthven Bastein, Asp Crooks, Insp Fermin Roy, Cpl Downing, PCs Joseph and Osuna visited the scene.

Officers from the Anti Kidnapping Squad came to the assistance of the Sangre Grande police, and while they were carrying out their investigations, a car pulled up at the station with male and female occupants and a girl in tattered clothes, covered with a sheet, bare feet, trembling and crying. Rachael told the police she had escaped from a house under construction in Guaico.

The gardeners reported that while they were at their garden they heard a voice crying for help. They then saw a girl swaying and running in different directions. They went to her assistance and took her to the Sangre Grande Police Station.

Rachael reported the incident to the Ministry of Education and her school, informing them that she could not write the examinations yesterday. She was taken by police officers to Sangre Grande Hospital for medical examination.

Cpl Downing is investigating.