Latest update December 19th, 2024 3:22 AM
Aug 29, 2009 News
Police arrest suspected kidnapper
After three weeks of unbearable anxiety and uncertainty about her 4-year-old daughter’s whereabouts, a Leonora, West Coast Demerara mother was yesterday able to breathe a sigh of relief.
However, the relief came as a result of a strange twist of events which saw the woman venturing to the Leonora Police Station to clear her name after being accused of stealing pieces of clothing said to be the property of her ex-lover’s daughter.
During an interview with this newspaper yesterday, the woman related that it was as she was about to enter the police station compound that a police vehicle drove up and an individual came out.
A little while after the woman said that she recognised her missing daughter emerging from the same car.
“I couldn’t believe it because nobody didn’t tell me that de police did find she. I been just going to de station because he (ex-lover) bring the police pun me for he daughter’s clothes.”
According to the woman, the police related to her that the child was found at a bushy location aback of Anna Catherina, West Coast Demerara, a few villages away from Leonora yesterday afternoon.
The woman said that she was advised by police to take the child for a medical inspection at the Leonora Cottage Hospital. However, she disclosed that she was given ‘a paper’ to take to another hospital to have the child tested today and a list of medication she should procure for the child.
It was related to this newspaper that no tests could have been carried out at the hospital as there was no Gynaecologist on duty there to determine if the child had been sexually molested. However, this newspaper observed some scratches and scars about the child’s body.
“Me ask she if de man trouble she but she nah answer. All she saying is dat she nah want go back. She say when she cry fuh go home he use to beat she and tell she, she can’t go outside.”
This newspaper was informed that a resident from Anna Catherina first saw the child in an overgrown section of the community’s burial ground when he attempted to climb a coconut tree.
The child, according to reports, was seen sleeping in a makeshift tent, a discovery which spurred the curiosity of the resident.
It was disclosed that about 50 residents from the area were alerted and descended on the area ready to battle with the alleged kidnapper for the freedom of the child.
The man was however able to flee the wrath of the residents who rescued the child from her makeshift imprisonment. The man was later caught by police officers who were also alerted to the discovery of the child.
This newspaper was informed though that the police officers were as surprised as the girl’s mother according to a source, as the man alleged to have kidnapped the child initially is not the man that they arrested yesterday.
In fact, it was the mother’s ex-lover who was the sole suspect after the child disappeared in the wee hours of the morning three weeks ago.
Recounting the night before the little girl disappeared, the woman said that her husband, who is also the father of her two children, the four-year-old and a six-year-old boy, had a drink and had fallen asleep on a bed that the two children shared.
The woman had recalled taking a drink of water around 23:30 hours and had also offered some to the children before forcing her husband to vacate the bed before tucking the children in.
She recalled that her husband was up first the next morning, around minutes to five, and observed that their dog was inside the house. He would later realise that an inner door to the entrance of the home was opened and raised an alarm.
Neither she nor her husband could explain who opened the door.
According to the woman, she subsequently checked on her children and saw that the netting to their bed was not fixed properly and initially accused her husband of disturbing them.
A closer look at the bed revealed that it was only her son sleeping on it.
The woman said that both she and her husband started a frantic search for the child to no avail. According to the woman, no neighbour or anyone else saw anything, except for her six-year-old son who claimed that he had seen his mother’s ex-lover in the house.
As a result, a report was made to the Leonora Police Station, and the man was taken into police custody. He was subsequently released.
However, with the new arrest, police are preparing to charge the suspect and take him before the court by Monday.
Dec 19, 2024
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