2 kidnapped children back home

TWO children, ages 8 and 9, who were kidnapped in separate incidents over a five-day period were reunited with their families yesterday.

Adriana Ramsingh, the daughter of San Juan businessman Ramesh Ramsingh, was snatched in front of her home around 8am yesterday while her chaffeur uncle, Boysie “Brother” Seenath, was about to take her to school in the family’s white van. Ramsingh, 8, of Eleventh Street, Barataria, was rescued around 3.45 pm by a joint contingent comprising members of the Defence Force and the Anti Kidnapping Squad (AKS) at a shack in Mount D’or, Champs Fleurs.  An $8 million ransom was asked for her safe return. 

A woman and two men ages 29, 23 and 19, were arrested in the area, which was cordoned off.  Ramsingh is a second standard student of the Curepe Presbyterian School. Her father, who is the owner of Ramsingh’s Glass Specialists, told Newsday that he was extremely relieved at his daughter’s return. “Thank God she is safe,” the father of three told Newsday. The child said she did not want to speak about the incident, but her father said her hands and feet had been bound and her mouth sealed. Mr Ramsingh said the kidnappers had called the family’s home after lunch yesterday and asked for a ransom demand, which he did not want to reveal.  He said he told them he did not have that kind of money and that the people on the other end dropped the phone.

The businessman heaped praises on members of the AKS, whose head is Sr Supt Gilbert Reyes.  “They did a good job and I must congratulate them.  I don’t know how to thank them at all,” he said.  He also said the doctors gave his daughter a clean bill of health. About six hours before Ramsingh was snatched, Micha Bernard, 9, of Sixth Street, Barataria, who had been kidnapped on Saturday last was found wandering in the vicinity of the Aranjuez Villas.  Bernard, a third standard student of the Barataria Anglican School, was snatched off his bicycle while riding along Don Miguel Road, on Saturday evening. A ransom demand of $300,000 had been requested for his safe return, but police sources said none was paid. An anonymous caller contacted the Barataria/El Socorro Police Station and a party of officers went to Aranjuez, from where the AKS was contacted.

Police said Bernard was in good condition and a medical examination revealed he was not harmed. His father, Marlon Bernard, a Customs Clerk, told Newsday that his son is in very good health and does not appear to be scared at the near four-day ordeal he went through. The elder Bernard could not say what the future holds for his son. It was while the Bernard family were rejoicing that the Ramsingh relatives had to deal with horror of their own, when one of three gunmen who snatched young Ramsingh opened fire on Seenath, 56, of San Juan.  Seenath, however, escaped unhurt and told Newsday he is living a second life. Police reports on the Ramsingh kidnapping are that around 8am yesterday, Ramsingh was about to enter the family’s white wagon vehicle, driven by Seenath.

Police sources said a white B13 Sentra vehicle came speeding from a westerly direction along Eleventh Street. The white vehicle, in which there were three occupants, pulled alongside the family’s wagon. One of the men, armed with a firearm, came out and snatched young Ramsingh. Police said Seenath attempted to hold on to the child, but the armed man, described by an eyewitness as tall and strapping and wearing a brown jersey and black pants, whipped out the firearm and fired a single shot at Seenath. The bullet, however, missed its mark. The kidnappers’ vehicle then sped off with Ramsingh screaming for her mother, Routie Ramsingh, who witnessed the drama from her front door. Frantic relatives contacted the police and a party of officers under Sr Supt Desmond Lambert and including Supt Waldron Bishop, ASP Gregory Correira, Cpl Patrick Thomas and PC Norton of the North Eastern Division visited the scene and conducted investigations.

AKS officers were contacted and later visited the house and took statements from several people. Within minutes of Ramsingh’s kidnapping, relatives and friends were on the scene and the area around the child’s home was blocked for a long while. MP for Barataria/San Juan Fuad Khan was also there. In an interview yesterday, Seenath told Newsday that he tried his best to prevent the kidnapping, but that he was unable to do so. Unable to say how far the bullet passed from him, Seenath said he escaped death and was very nervous about the situation.  “These people (kidnappers) have no heart. I am living a second life,” he added.

Ramsingh’s mother, who cried as she was being consoled by relatives, said that normally she sees her youngest child off to the vehicle. Yesterday, however, Routie said the child kept insisting that she wanted to see her mother go inside before she left. “These people so big, ugly and bad,” she said. “They take a baby and gone, putting their hand over her mouth.” “I never thought this would happen to me,” Routie said. She also said that officers told her that it was her son, Devon, whom the kidnappers wanted last Saturday and made a mistake when they snatched young Bernard on Don Miguel Road, San Juan, while riding his bicycle. “Devon usually rides a bike,” Routie told Newsday.  Police said they are of the firm belief that the same people are responsbile for the two kidnappings.