Three nights of terror after being kidnapped

GERARD RAMDHAN ,46, of Silk Cotton Drive, Bon Accord, Tobago survived three nights of terror after he was kidnapped last week Thursday.

Ramdhan, who is originally from Valencia, spoke yesterday with Newsday at his home two days after he was released. He said he spent three nights without food and water in an abandoned wooden house.

The head of maintenance at Coco Reef Hotel told Newsday he left home that morning to pay bills including rent at Bethel where his landlord lives.

“I was driving along the golf course in Mt Irvine when I saw a silver Tiida driving suspiciously behind me, then to the side of me. I didn’t bother about it too much because I thought the driver was annoyed by the slow pace I was driving. The car pulled to the front of my car and a man with a gun ordered me to stop.”

The father of three said the man called him “Tiger” and was asking him about missing drugs.

“He forced me to move over into the passenger side of my car and placed a black bag over my head. After driving for a few minutes, they took me out of the car where I was lead into an abandoned wooden house. There were other men there ­– I’m not sure how many. I kept telling them I am not that man and I don’t know anything about any drugs, but they insisted I was him.”

Afraid for his life, Ramdhan said he kept his head down after the bag was removed from his head.

“All I kept thinking about was my wife and children. They took my watch, phone and a little over $2000 from me.

“After some time, they left me then came back and threw water on me to use my finger to unlock my phone. They even hit me with a gun to my forehead.”

Meanwhile, several calls were made and messages sent by his concerned wife Natalie. She said she knew something was not right when he was not answering his phone and didn’t show up for work, as he usually would.

“I sent messages begging whoever had him to release him. I sent them photos of me and his children and I begged but they just kept reading my message.

“I messaged that his daughter was asking if her daddy is alive and they replied ‘He alive.’ That’s it.”

She said after her son messaged his father’s phone, pleading for his father’s safe return, he received a voice note from Ramdhan saying “(name called) you will see daddy again.”

She showed Newsday a message sent to her phone which read, “Because of the love you have for him, you will see him.”

She said she tried tracking the phone’s GPS, requesting the last calls he made before he went missing from the network provider, checking at the Scarborough port and ANR Robinson International Airport.

She said she went around Tobago trying to find out if anyone had seen Ramdhan. Information, she said, was forwarded to the police but not much effort was made to find her husband.

After two days, Ramdhan said he overheard a conversation between two men about another man who will be able to tell if he was the right man they kidnapped. After waiting, he said another guy arrived to confirm he was not the right man as “Tiger” had no children.

His vehicle was abandoned along Golden Grove Road and found on Saturday morning. Ramdhan was released on Saturday night.

He told Newsday he was taken to an area with a bag over his head and left in the street. Before the men left, they warned him not to look back. “They didn’t have to tell me that twice. I waited until I couldn’t hear the vehicle anymore before taking off the bag.”

He made his way to Samaan Grove where he asked a security officer for an opportunity to call his wife.

“He told me where he was and I hurried to meet him,” she said.

“When I went there, the state of my husband broke my heart. He had swelling on his head, his clothes were dirty and there were mosquito bites all over.”