DADDY UPSTAIRS

This, according to Rehana Singh, was how her teenaged daughter Shivani Persad reacted when told that her (Shivani) father Vishnu Persad, had been shot and killed on the weekend. Fourteen-yearold Shivani, who went missing last week Wednesday, rushed into her Rio Claro home on Tuesday night, shortly after being rescued by police, looking for her father.

She burst into tears on being told that he was dead. In disbelief, the youngster insisted her father was not dead but in a room upstairs.

As she hugged her daughter tightly, Singh yesterday said her daughter was left traumatised by her father’s murder and may be in need of counselling. Shortly after midnight on Sunday, Vishnu Persad, 36, was shot and killed at the family’s Mahabalsingh Trace, Navet Village, Rio Claro home, while his daughter was still missing.

Saying she does not know how her daughter will cope when they gather today to bid Persad a final farewell at his funeral, Singh said she feels hurt that her child is going through such stress and trauma but is relieved that she (Shivani) is alive and safe.

She said that although Shivani had heard on the news - while she was still being kept unlawfully by a man - that her father had been murdered, she did not believe the news. Last week Wednesday, Shivani left home to attend classes at the Rio Claro East Secondary School, but never returned home.

She was found and rescued by police on Tuesday evening while in the company of a 25-year-old man at a mall in Chaguanas.

Both the teen and the man were taken to the Rio Claro Police Station.

Prior to her disappearance last week Wednesday, Singh said, both she and Vishnu had confronted the 25-year-old man about his interest in their daughter. When Shivani went missing, Singh told Newsday, she and Vishnu wondered if the 25-year-old man had abducted their daughter. When they went in search of the man, he could not be found.

Shortly after midnight on Sunday, Vishnu returned home after searching for his daughter when he shot and killed. “Shivani and her father were very close and I know that she is really hurting. She is silent but hurting. This is going to be very hard for her to deal with. It is hard for me as I have lost my husband.

He was murdered and I know his death has something to do with the disappearance of my daughter...

nothing else is adding up. I am sure this man who police held, knows something,” Singh said.

Police reported that shortly after Persad returned home after searching for his daughter, gunshots were heard and he was found by relatives dead on the floor near a doorway in the house. “There is so much to deal with right now. I am happy my daughter is safe and back home because I was fearing the worst, especially as I kept hearing talk of a murder/suicide being committed. I prayed and begged God not to let this talk be true. So I was so overjoyed when I got the telephone call from police yesterday (Tuesday) that Shivani had been found alive and nothing happened to her,” Singh said.

During the interview yesterday, Shivani stood at her mother’s side but said nothing. “I know my daughter may be in need counselling, because she is still in a state of shock and disbelief. I still can’t believe all of this is happening,” Singh said. Struggling to hold back tears, the mother said she and her husband were very strict about raising their three children.

“When this young man approached us about wanting to start a relationship with Shivani, I was upset because I want my children to focus on their education so they could have as best a future as possible,” she said. Singh said the man took advantage of a child’s naive mind.

“Shivani is a child...my child and he took advantage of her. As mothers we have to be more careful about such men who prey on young innocent children. I know Shivani would break down when she sees the body of her father at the funeral tomorrow (today) because in her mind, somehow she believes he is still alive.” Persad will be laid to rest following a funeral service at the family home today. During the period of her disappearance, the teenager’s surname on her Facebook profile was changed to the surname of the 25-year-old man. Police officers of the Rio Claro Police Station are continuing investigations.