15 kidnappings for the year

The incidence of kidnapping in the country has shocked and enraged citizens to such an extent that there are calls for life imprisonment - if not death - for those found guilty of an act as evil as seizing a fellow human being and holding that person on the point of death until money is paid or some other score of criminal intent is settled.

Even more shocking, however is the kidnapping of young children - the youngest being a virtual infant of six years who was snatched outside his school in San Fernando last week and is still missing. Another child, nine years of age was also held and though rescued from his kidnappers, was so badly beaten that he is now in critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit of the Wendy Fitzwilliam Paediatric Ward, Mt Hope Hospital. Still unaccounted for is a 21-year-old woman who was held on Wednesday night as she stood chatting with a friend in Maraval. A fourth victim of kidnapping last week, was Keith Bissessar, 28, of Huggins Street, Tacarigua. Bissessar is the manager of the Tacarigua Parliament Football Club and was held on Monday night, his kidnappers demanding $1.5 million. He was rescued on Tuesday night by AKS officers who stormed a Valencia house where they found Bissessar tied up and with head injuries inflicted by a gunbutt. A Curepe man was held. Luckily a fifth victim, Anslem Choo Woon Chee, was freed by his kidnappers after being held for nine days.

The Anti-Kidnapping Squad is searching for Mark Prescott, 6, of the San Fernando Boys RC School who was kidnapped while he waited outside the school gates for his regular transportation around 3 pm Wednesday. Prescott’s father who is an offshore oil worker has received two telephone calls, that have been traced to a phone booth in Princes Town demanding $150,000 ransom. Last Thursday, the manager of the school, Roman Catholic priest, Fr Clyde Harvey, made a passionate plea; “For God’s sake,” he cried, “Leave the children alone!” The appeal was echoed throughout the land in many homes and schools as families wondered what more steps they could take to protect their children from these mad criminals. Even though he was rescued, the case of Keiwon Sullivan, 9, is equally shocking. He was snatched on Thursday afternoon near his home at First Trace, Bagatelle Road, Diego Martin. He too was on his way home from school at the Aranguez Primary where he is a standard two student.

Although Keiwon was rescued not long afterwards at an abandoned house in La Resource Road, D’Abadie, the abductors had had time to severely brutalise him, leaving him with a fractured jaw, 19 stab wounds on the head, several broken fingers on a hand that appeared to have been crushed and bruises all over his body. Who would want to do this to a child? The question was asked by Keiwon’s father, Andy Williams, 26, who told reporters that those who did this to his child should not be jailed but be made to suffer the same injuries - jaw broken, hand crushed, stabs to the head. Few would want to argue with that! Again the Anti-Kidnapping Squad has to find the perpetrators and they have little to go on although Keiwon was able to tell his father how he was grabbed and forced into a maxi taxi, sustaining his injuries when, child-like, he told his kidnappers he wanted to go home. Calls have been made to Williams’ home demanding $10,000, money he says he does not have. There is speculation that the kidnapping of the child followed a dispute which his father reportedly had with a man over a piece of land in Bagatelle. But there was no confirmation of this though the police are said to be looking for a man from Bagatelle.

The third kidnapping of the week was of Kerri Greaves, 21, whose mother Debra Greaves is a senior reporter with Newsday. Kerri was snatched by four men in a car on Wednesday night and has not been heard of since. She was only recently released from hospital, needs further treatment and her family is distraught at what could be happening to her. Kerri and her friend, Vanessa Phillips were held at gunpoint while standing at the corner of Scott Hill and Saddle Road, Maraval on Wednesday. Vanessa was thrown out of the car at the Morvant Junction but Kerri was held. Police have dismissed suggestions by Kerri’ father, Neale Greaves that his daughter’s abduction was a case of mistaken identity. The Police are convinced that the men who snatched Kerri knew exactly who they wanted. What the police don’t know is why. They are working on several theories and have detained and questioned a man. A luckier man - if you can use that term to describe the victim of a kidnapping who was held for nine days against his will - is  grocery owner, Anslem Choo Woon Chee, of Sam Boucaud, Santa Cruz. He was snatched as he was entering his home. He was dumped at the side of the Lady Chancellor Hill and the reason for his kidnapping remains a mystery as no ransom was ever demanded. While he was held, residents of his community held nightly vigils praying for his safe return. Their prayers were answered leaving Choo Woon Chee wondering not only at his luck but at how much he was appreciated by his community.

For the year there have been 15 kidnappings and the police are yet to make a breakthrough. Some ransoms are clearly planned to get money from relatives. Others are drug related or associated with other criminal activities. In the meantime, with the increase in child kidnappings, families are instituting even stricter rules with respect to the protection of their children. But not every child has a parent or some designated and trusted individual to take him or her to and from school and for parents in this category - probably the majority - sending your child to school is now nothing short of a daily living nightmare.