Mother: I woke up calling out his name

TODAY marks 50 days since ten-year-old Vijay Persad was kidnapped, and still his family is keeping the hope of seeing him come home alive. Yesterday, though their faces were etched with stress, grief and despondency, Rajkumar said, “I just feel he is alive. I don’t feel any bad vibes or anything negative.” Vijay’s mother, Marilyn, agreed her son would come home. In the meantime, however, her heart breaks for her son. “Sometimes when I sit down to eat, I can’t eat because I wonder if he is getting anything to eat,” she said with tears in her eyes.

“I am just existing. Sometimes I don’t know how I am feeling. Sometimes I don’t even want to get up in the morning.” In addition to trying to cope everyday with the kidnapping of her son, she also has nightmares at night. “The other night I dreamt that I was calling him. I woke up calling out his name aloud,” the mother said. Vijay’s siblings are also trying to cope with his disappearance. His two-and-a-half-year old sister, Anna, seems to long to want to talk to her brother. “She picked up the telephone and played like she is calling Vijay,” Marilyn said. The ten-year-old was kidnapped on June 21 outside his home at Indian Walk in Moruga by gun-toting bandits who demanded his father open the doors of his mini-mart. When Rajkumar refused to comply, the bandits snatched Vijay, who was standing in the doorway, and ran off.

At least 15 people have been detained by police for questioning, all of them being subsequently released. Princes Town MP Subhas Panday yesterday presented Rajkumar with cheques from the business community valued $1,100, telling him that other businesses were committed to assisting the family financially.  Panday said the donations were to assist the family with financial commitments since their mini-mart was closed for business for several weeks.  In presenting the cheques, Panday told the family, “I know you have pain and I hope this eases some of your pain. We feel sorry for you and we are fighting still. This is so you know that we haven’t stopped thinking of you and we pray to God that he comes back home.” With school to reopen in two weeks time, the Persad family is hoping Vijay, an A-student, returns to them. “He should be going into Standard Five to write his SEA exams,” the boy’s father said. “He wanted to go to Naparima Boys or Presentation College.” The Anti-Kidnapping Squad and Princes Town police are continuing investigations.