Dad: TT law not ready for kidnappers

TRINIDAD and Tobago’s law is not ready to deal with the experienced kidnappers in the country, says Premnath Geelal, father of kidnapped victim, Geewan Geelal.

From his El Socorro home yesterday, the 40-year-old dry goods businessman said his three sons will all be leaving the country this Thursday for either the United States or Canada, where they will stay with relatives. The elder Geelal said the kidnappers who snatched his 13-year-old son knew exactly what they were doing. He said they knew how to wear the family down and put pressure on them. “They know every step to make and how to break us,” the businessman said.

With the knowledge the kidnappers possess, Geelal said the laws of this country are not equipped to deal with the kidnappers at all. On his sons leaving the country, Geelal said it was a tough decision to make, but he simply has no choice.  He said if they were to stay in this country, his children will be forced to be under “lock and key” and he did not want that. “I don’t want to send them, but their safety is most important,” Geelal said. He, too, is contemplating leaving, but said he has a lot of commitments here that may force him from giving in. 

Commenting on the negotiating aspect of the kidnapping, Geelal said it was like something that was being sold, and you had no choice but to buy it. “That’s just how it was,” he said, later advising would-be relatives of kidnap victims to listen to the police, whom he heaped praises on, as well as officials of the United States Embassy. The businesman also called on the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) to have more concern with regards to the Kidnapping Bill because, he said, kidnapping is not decreasing, but increasing.