South businessman kidnapped

AFTER several days of prank calls to his family and on his cellular phone, South businessman Vernon Roop-narine was kidnapped outside his home, while he was preparing to park his car in the garage, on Thursday night. Roopnarine, 56, owner of Refinery and Industrial Fabricators Ltd at the Point Lisas Industrial Estate, was opening the gate of his house at Sum Sum Hill, Claxton Bay, when he was attacked by kidnappers who bundled him into their car and sped off. Yesterday, his worried relatives told Newsday the kidnappers had not yet contacted them for a ransom demand. The silence from the kidnappers has relatives very worried about his condition and whether he is alive or not.

According to police reports, around 9.30 pm on Thursday, Roopnarine was standing outside his house when a white Honda Civic pulled alongside him and a man alighted from the car. The man began beating Roopnarine who tried to defend himself. After a short struggle, Roopnarine was pushed into the car, which sped off. Roopnarine’s daughter, Natalie, told Newsday that for three days (prior to the kidnapping) her father had been getting prank calls on his cell phone and the house telephone. “His cellular phone and the house phone would be ringing during the day and late at night, but no one would answer on the other side,” Natalie said. She added that 15 minutes before the kidnapping, Roopnarine telephoned home to say he was on his way home. Natalie recalled that her father drove up and parked his silver Audi sedan opposite the family house and was opening the gate to park the car in the garage under the house, when he was attacked and kidnapped. 

“I unlocked the gate and had just turned my back to put down the keys when I saw someone dressed in black come out of a white car and pull his (Roopnarine’s) hand behind his back. The man started cuffing him (her father) on his head and hitting him repeatedly,” 20-year-old Natalie said. The woman added that as her father fought back, his attacker slammed his head on the iron gate, then shoved him into the car. “It happened so quickly, I was helpless. By the time I ran inside to get help, the men had already driven off with my father.” The family immediately telephoned Couva Police, who in turn alerted the Anti-Kidnapping Squad (AKS). Roopnarine’s wife of 33 years, Shafira, said her husband came home around 4 pm that day, before he left for his usual liming spot at Touch and Taste bar in California. “We heard the kidnappers were also liming in the bar and when he left they left and followed him home,” Shafira said. The couple have four children and two grandchildren. Investigations are continuing. Roopnarine’s kidnapping is the second in central/south Trinidad this past week, following that of Moruga resident and father of two, Avalon Wendell Paul, who was snatched from his home on Tuesday night. He was released on Wednesday morning along the Uriah Butler Highway.