Mahabir-Wyatt: Shindlar possibly with cult in TT

CAROL MATROO

MISSING teenager Shindlar Cuffy is quite possibly with a religious cult somewhere in Trinidad, according to head of the Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Diana Mahabir-Wyatt.

Cuffy, 16, has been missing since November 26. Her mother Shondel Shallow recently found a letter written by her daughter saying she was with God, and a recent voice note circulating on social media, Shallow said, sounded like her daughter and that she was being forced to talk.

Mahabir-Wyatt said the letter was an indication that Cuffy was not forced to leave, but left of her own free will.

"This is different to the other cases where girls went missing, because she has actually left a message indicating that there is some kind of group that she is going to be with. I don't know of any other case going back 30 years where this was done.”

She said girls previously reported missing were thought to have been trafficked, but this case did not sound like trafficking at all.

"The suggestion that it is a cult, I don't know. She doesn't have a passport so it can't be ISIS. I'm sure the police checked out the two or three cults that still exist. If she had gone off with a boyfriend or partner, she wouldn't write that kind of letter."

Mahabir-Wyatt said the voice message did not tie-in with religious obsession.

"The fact that she does not have a passport, or if she did, her parents don't know, so again it is highly suspicious. She doesn't have a passport, and the telephone call came from within the country.

"If you take that as the template then she is still here, and the mother said it sounded like she was being told what to say, but the letter she did on her own. It really does sound like she went off with a cult which is something someone had suggested. These organisations are not registered, they don't pay taxes so they are not easy to locate. I find the whole thing very puzzling."