Venezuelan woman raped

After being raped, robbed of valuables and threatened with death, a 22-year-old Venezuelan woman was given $5 taxi fare to return to Port of Spain.

According to reports, shortly after 10 pm on Saturday, the woman and her boyfriend were near Massy Stores in Maraval, when a car with three male occupants stopped and the couple entered the car.

The man asked to be taken to downtown Port of Spain, however on reaching the Emperor Valley Zoo, around the Queens Park Savannah, the driver pulled out a pistol.

The couple was taken to the Lady Young lookout where the man was forced out of the car while the woman was taken to a house in Laventille where one of the men raped her.

The woman told police she was given $5 by her assailants as taxi fare to return to Port of Spain.

She reported the incident to officers at the Central Police Station.

Officers yesterday confirmed the incident, and said since neither the woman nor her companion spoke much English, it was difficult to translate the events. Officers of the Port of Spain Division are investigating. In a separate incident, a silver Mazda Familia was stolen outside a guest house in Woodbrook in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Senior officers of the Port of Spain Division said the vehicle, which was rented by a Trinidadian national returning from the US, was parked outside the guest house at around 10.30 pm on Saturday.

At about 1 am on Sunday, the man went to check on the vehicle and found it missing. In yet another incident on Saturday night, the vehicle belonging to a workman was broken into and several tools stolen.

Officers of the Port of Spain Division said there has been an increase in reported vehicular thefts in the Woodbrook area, and urged all drivers to avoid leaving valuables inside their cars which may attract criminals.