Schoolboy pistol-whipped

NALINEE SEELAL

A 17-YEAR-OLD Chaguanas schoolboy was traumatised and had to seek treatment yesterday, hours after he was abducted and pistol-whipped after refusing to perform a sex act on his abductor.

He was also robbed of cash and his cellphone.

The boy’s relatives were also in shock and pleaded with police to capture the criminals in order to spare other schoolchildren.

At about 3.30 pm on Tuesday, the boy was walking home along Henry Street in Chaguanas when a gold Nissan Tiida pulled alongside. The driver and another man pointed guns at him and forced him into the back seat.

The teen later told police that the gunman who sat with him in the back seat beat him and put a plastic bag over his head. The man then pulled down his pants and ordered the teen to perform a sex act on him. When the boy refused, police were later told, the man beat him with the gun butt.

The schoolboy was ordered a second time to perform the sex act and again refused. He was taken to Constance Street in Montrose and again beaten by the gunman and the driver. They robbed him of $30 and a Samsung cellphone valued $1,600 and dropped him off, with the plastic bag still over his head.

He stopped a driver, who took him to the Chaguanas police station, where he gave a statement to PC Mohammed and WPC Joseph. The teen, who was in shock, was met at the station by anxious relatives and taken to the Chaguanas Health Facility and later to a private health institution, where he was kept for observation.

Relatives told police they were shocked that the schoolboy could be snatched so easily in broad daylight, on a well-used road. They also called for an increase in police patrols along roads used by schoolchildren.

Yesterday, head of the Central Division acting Snr Supt Inraj Balram described the incident as alarming and said he had ordered more mobile patrols during the times when schoolchildren walk to school, to various taxi stands or to their homes. Balram called on the public to be vigilant, exercise extreme caution, walk in groups and report any suspicious activities to the police.

“Members of the public should be their brothers’ keeper. Some people may witness a crime and not report it to the police. The time has come for people to regard everyone who may be in distress as their brother or sister, and contact the police whenever a crime is committed,” Balram said.

Last month an 18-year-old schoolgirl was approached by a gunman in a maxi taxi while travelling from Chaguanas to Caroni. She was forced into the bush in Montrose, not far from where the schoolboy was beaten and robbed on Tuesday. She was raped and robbed of $1,000 in jewelry and $20 in cash.