Mother settles Berbice baby-snatcher case for $500,000

Dec 01, 2014 News

The young Berbice mother whose nine-day-old son was kidnapped by a woman earlier this year has accepted $500.000 compensation from the accused.
Sandra McLean, the mother of little Yuvesh ‘Avinash’ Bistonauth, accepted the money from Baitoon Hussain last month in the Whim Magistrate’s Court.

Sandra McLean and her baby just after he was found

The baby was kidnapped by Hussain in the vicinity of the Port Mourant Market on May 24 last.
After eight days of intense searching in both Guyana and neighbouring Suriname, the abducted baby was finally reunited with his parents, Sandra Mc Lean and Ravikant Vistonauth on June 1, 2014. This was after ranks, acting on information, swooped down on a Chesney Front, Albion house and found the infant in the company of his female kidnapper, her husband, Alvin, and her mother-in-law, Gangadai ‘Baby’ Budhram.
Hussain was subsequently charged and later remanded after pleading not guilty to the charge. After her second court appearance, Hussain was released on bail after her lawyer, Attorney-at-Law Rodwell Jagmohan petitioned Justice Brassington Reynolds at the Berbice High Court. Hussain was also mandated to report to the Whim Magistrate’s Court every week.
McLean was furious at the manner in which the matter was progressing and while speaking to this newspaper in July said that she feared Hussain might have fled the jurisdiction.
“I want the story to be on a trial to hear what she have to say,” McLean declared. The young mother also expressed fear of leaving her home without her baby.
However, in the recent weeks, it was revealed that the matter was settled, for a sum of $500,000. Mc Lean later said she accepted the money because she feared that the matter would have been drawn out for too long in court of law, and that she also took the pleas of the Hussain family into consideration.
She also said she had borrowed a lot of money from relatives while the baby was missing and that the $500,000 would do her well to repay those debts.