Kidnap accused sent to St Ann’s

A 27-year-old Penal man was yesterday sent by a magistrate to the St Ann’s Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation after he appeared in the Siparia Magistrates’ Court for kidnapping a six-year-old girl from a primary school in the district on Tuesday. Dressed in a black jersey and a pair of blue jeans, a tranquil-looking Andy Mohammed stood quietly before Magistrate Maria Busby Earle-Caddle as the charge was read. It was alleged that on Tuesday January 4, Mohammed walked into Dayanand Memorial Vedic Primary School at Ramjohn Trace and took away six-year-old Nayel Rampersad, of San Francique Road, Penal, against her will.

He was charged following investigations by PC Andre Mitchell of the Penal Police Station. It  was alleged that young Nayel was rescued by her father, Ramsarack Rampersad. Mohammed was arrested and charged with the offence that same afternoon and yesterday the magistrate did not call on him to plead. Attorney Ramnarine Surjansingh, representing Mo-hammed, told the magistrate the accused had a history of mental illness.  After ordering that  Mohammed be sent to St Ann’s, the magistrate postponed the case to January 19.