Back home for Christmas

“JOY to the world; my son is home for Christmas,” Zyroon Maharaj and Robindranath Maharaj wept with happiness Christmas Day, yesterday as they hugged their 15-year-old son. Shane, 15, was kidnapped from his Coconut Drive, San Fernando home Monday night and yesterday released by his kidnappers  at a cemetery in Cunupia around 3 am. The family, owners of Cell Tech, Gulf City Shopping Complex, declined to disclosed whether a ransom was paid. Shane, who was found with his feet and hands tied, was semi-conscious and was rushed to the San Fernando General Hospital. Kidnapped Monday night from his father’s Lexus station wagon at his driveway at Oliver Avenue, the kidnappers demanded a ransom for the boy’s release.

It was a mixture of joy and sadness at the Maharaj’s home yesterday, Shane could barely speak about his ordeal. “They pushed a gun in my mouth. I didn’t know where I was...but I was hearing voices,” Shane said. The form three student of San Fernando Modern Secondary School said he did not eat or drink anything since Monday night. Throughout, his eyes were tied with a “bandana” and Shane told Newsday that on one occasion, one of the men sat on him. He recalled being given something to eat. “I think it was rice and chow mein. It look like they put something in it. I take one spoonful and I kinda started to feel dizzy,” Shane said. Shane said he recalled waking up on the hospital bed yesterday morning when he screamed out: “Mommy...Daddy here?”

The Maharajs declined to disclose whether they paid a ransom, except to say that a small sum was demanded. Maharaj said that he was forced to retain private security personnel to negotiate with the kidnappers for Shane’s release on Christmas Eve night. “We were on the road all night and into Christmas morning. When I see my son I say he cap out...His hands were tied to his feet...imagine that. Even the guard told me ‘Boy, I was frightened yes...with them men (kidnappers), but when I see your son...I didn’t think he will make it,”’ Maharaj said. Maharaj recounted how the abduction occurred. Around 9:30 pm Monday night Maharaj was with wife Zyroon, son Shane and younger children, daughters Lisa and Nadia. Two of the neighbour’s children were also in the back seat of the Lexus when he drove into the driveway. “Apparently they were following us. I pressed the knob to close the electronic gate. They jammed the gate with their car. Two men ran into the yard and pointed guns at me. They just snatched Shane and left,” Maharaj said. The incident happened in front of his wife and the children who were alighting from the vehicle at the time.

But wife Zyroon, Maharaj said, snatched the keys from him, drove out of the driveway and pursued the men. “By the time I reached about a 100 feet they had already gone,” she said. Shane said he was blindfolded and he had no idea in which direction he was being taken. He told Newsday that he was made to hold a gun and feel the length of it. “One of them said to me ‘see how big it is,”’ a grim-faced Shane said. Zyroon, constantly hugging and kissing her son as the family sat in the living room of their home, said she did not know if she should cry or smile whenever she looked at Shane’s face. “I just want to tell those kidnappers that when they take people children, treat them with a little care. They’re  innocent. If is just a ransom you want; imagine you will sit on a child and push a gun in his mouth,” Joy said. Shane was expected to be given a pool table as a Christmas gift yesterday. A truck was expected to deliver it but the parents cancelled the delivery on Christmas Eve. “We have our son and we want to thank the Lord and the police for all they have done,” a tearful Zyroon said.