Kidnap victim refuses offer of safe house

JUST HOURS after he made a daring escape from his kidnappers yesterday, Selwyn Simmons opted to go home to his family instead of being placed in police protection.

Simmons told police he was severely beaten by his kidnappers. They also threatened to kill him if he did not take them to the remaining amount of money from last year’s $5 million Securicor robbery. Blindfolded, bound and gagged, the 35-year-old father of four was able to dodge bullets fired at him by the seven masked kidnappers. He managed to escape somewhere in the forests of Brasso  in Tabaquite where he hid in the bushes. At the first sign of daybreak, Simmons walked some three miles before he emerged at Brasso Main Road around 7.15 am and was picked up by a motorist who took him to his home at Torrib Tabaquite Road, Tableland.

Simmons spent most of yesterday being interviewed by the police and was treated at the Accident and Emergency Department of the San Fernando General Hospital.  Investigators said he sustained head and chest injuries and bruises about his body and both wrists. In a statement to police, Simmons, who was dragged out of his bedroom by two armed men on Sunday night,  said he was blindfolded and his hands tied with pieces of cloth. He said he believed his abductors took him to a place near a farm because he was hearing the mooing of cows.

He said he was forced to kneel and was beaten with gun butts on his head. Simmons also told police the men kept asking him where the money from the Securicor robbery was buried. He was again beaten when he denied knowing where the money was hidden. Eventually, in fear for his life, he lied and agreed to take the men to where the money was buried. Sometime later, he said the men led him out of the house and into the forest.

Simmons said when they took off the blindfold he was in the middle of the forest, and while walking he managed to escape from the men who were wearing dark clothing, masks and were armed with AK45 rifles. Simmons said the men opened fire at him, he ducked for cover and eventually hid in some bushes. When Newsday contacted family members yesterday, a relative identified only as Roshan, said Simmons was still being treated at the hospital and had not yet spoken to relatives about what had  transpired. Investigators said Simmons told them he did not know anything about the $5 million robbery, neither did he know who were his kidnappers. The Anti-Kidnapping Squad, Southern Division and Tableland Police are continuing investigations.