Girl, 3, kidnapped in South

A three-year old girl, Saada Singh, was kidnapped yesterday from Giselle’s Montessori School in Vistabella by a well dressed woman wearing a wig and driving a white Nissan B14 Sentra with a PBN licence plate. Thirty minutes before the child was taken away by the woman, a teacher received a call from a woman claiming to be an employee of the family business. She said that the child’s parents were atending to an emergency and would send someone to pick up Saada. Apparently the teacher believing the call to be genuine handed the child over to the kidnapper without checking with the parents.

However, within minutes of the woman leaving with the child, the parents Sean Singh, owner of Compression and Power, an industrial supplies company based in Chaguanas, and  his wife Ria, received a chilling call which warned: “We have Saada. Don’t go to the police or we will kill her.” Up to late last night it was the only call received by the Singhs regarding a ransom demand and the couple were said to be in a state of shock and distress. Saada, who celebrates her fourth birthday next week is the second child to be kidnapped in the southland in the last year. Seven-year old Marc Prescott who was snatched outside his school in May last year is still missing.

According to police sources, a woman called the school at 10:30 am stating that the parents were sending someone to pick up Saada. The woman was described as wearing a black and gold wig and was dressed in a black long-sleeved jacket and blue jeans. Several police blocks and aerial searches by the National Security helicopter in and around the school were futile. Teachers at the school told the police that when the woman arrived at the school she repeated the information that Saada’s mother had an emergency to attend to and was unable to come to the school. They described her as of African descent, about 5’ 6”, dark brown complexion, with a space between her top front teeth. An official at Giselle’s Montessori yesterday told Newsday that they were assisting the police, but refused to comment on the incident.

San Fernando Mayor Ian Atherly was one of several businessmen who visited the family’s home at Hubert Rance Street in Vistabella. He described the crime situation in the country as demonic: “ A person has to be inhumane to do something like that to a three-year-old girl. How could parents today be comfortable bringing up children when something like this happens? A woman picked up this child. A woman who bears children. This has to be demonic,” Mayor Atherly said.

He pleaded with anyone who may have information to contact the police immediately. President of the San Fernando Business Association, Daphne Bartlett, expressed extreme dismay at the situation: “I cannot believe that criminals have resorted to kidnapping an innocent three-year-old infant to satisfy their monetary pursuits.” Bartlett said she was praying for the criminals to soften their hearts and release Saada unharmed back to her family. Officers of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad and Marabella Police led by Supt Krishna Maharaj and acting Insp David Cooper are investigating.