South family: Give us back our son for Christmas

TODAY, Christmas Day, a family is without their young son who is at the mercy of four kidnappers in some hidden place. The gift-wrapped toy for Shane from his parents, Robindranath and Joy Maharaj, will remain un-opened below the family’s Christmas tree. The silent wish and prayer of the Maharajs, and indeed that of Shane’s younger sisters, Lisa and Nadia, is: “Our Lord, bring our son home for Christmas” But up to late yesterday, there had been no ransom demand from the kidnappers. Maharaj, (Robindranath) the boy’s father, said yesterday: “We’re just waiting and hoping. Sorry, we have to keep these lines open because they have not called yet.”

Shane’s mother, Zyroon Joy Maharaj, was too distraught to speak to Newsday. The Maharajs, who are business people, were alighting from their Lexus Hilux jeep around 9.45 pm in their driveway at Coconut Drive, San Fernando, when four masked men confronted them. The electronic gate was almost closed, Newsday learnt, when the men snatched Shane in the presence of Maharaj, Joy and their daughters. The kidnappers were able to escape before the gate could close in on them. The family had just returned from Gulf City Shopping Complex after closing their businessplace late as a result of the Christmas season.

At around 2 pm yesterday, Maharaj said that he had not received any telephone calls on his cell, his wife’s or their telephone at home, demanding a ransom. “We are still hoping and praying. That is all we can do,” Maharaj said. The Maharajs would have usually spent a quiet day yesterday opening gifts and sharing lunch with close relatives. Yesterday, the mood was sombre as relatives entered and left the Maharaj’s Humming Bird Drive home. Joy, with swollen tear-filled eyes, has had just winks of sleep since the incident. Today, the Maharaj family may not open gifts like most people do on Christmas Day. “Our gift this Christmas is to have our son back,” a distraught Maharaj told Newsday.