They threatened to cut off my toe

Kidnap victim Kenrick Baboolal has vowed never to return to Guyana again. The 39-year-old supervisor employed with General Earth Movers, at San Fernando, was kidnapped while on his job site near Boxton, Guyana last Thursday. He was safely released some five hours after a ransom demand of $3 million Guyanese currency was paid.

Speaking about his ordeal for the first time yesterday, Baboolal told Sunday Newsday he had given up hope of being rescued and was pondering how his abductors were going to kill him. “I believed they were going to kill me. I saw my whole life flash in front of me. One thing that kept running through my mind was how painful my death was going to be,” he said. Sitting in the comfort of his home at Poco Alley, Siparia, Baboolal in recounting his ordeal said: “Around 10.30 am on Thursday I was walking around the job site supervising the workers when a man came up from behind me and pushed his hand around me. He placed a gun on my back and ordered me to walk.”

Baboolal said the man’s accomplices then proceeded to rob the other workers. He said the men took him to the downstairs of an old abandoned wooden house, some 200 yards away from his job site. They handcuffed his hands behind his back and made him sit on a four inch concrete block. He said there were at least 11 men surrounding him. Baboolal recalled the men telling him that they wanted money. They used his cellular phone to contact his boss and arrange for a drop off point. While negotiations were taking place, Baboolal said the men beat him with a gun butt on his head and cuffed and slapped him. They also threatened to kill him.

“One of the men even take off my left shoe and sock, placed my foot on a piece of wood and threatened to chop off my toe. Another one played Russian roulette with me. He pointed a gun at me and pulled the trigger several times,” he said. As he spoke about his terrifying experience to Sunday Newsday, Baboolal’s eyes filled with tears, saying that no one could understand what he went through unless they had been in a similar predicament. Around 3 pm, a short distance away from where they had held him hostage, the men collected the money and released him. “The first thing I did was pack up my bags and head home,” he said.

Baboolal, who is married and has two children, said he was very happy to be back home with his family, whom he thought the would have never seen again. Baboolal, who stayed at Atlantic Gardens East Coast, Demerara, said he was working on a project in Guyana since last September. Baboolal said he worked every other month there and the project was expected to be completed by next month. “I am glad it is over and I not going back there again,” he boldly declared.