3 charged for kidnapping baby Sophia

ONE woman and two men were charged on Monday for the kidnapping last week Tuesday of nine-month-old Sophia Rivas, the police have confirmed.

Anjali De Gannes, 19, of Longdenville Old Road, Chaguanas; Judah Taitt, 58, and Jdan Taitt, 24, both of McInroy Street, Curepe, were jointly charged with kidnapping for ransom after advice received from Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard, SC.

JDan Taitt was also charged with negotiating a ransom. Two other suspects were released following investigations. On the morning of Tuesday September 15, a report was received from the child’s mother Valentine Hernandez who is a Venezuelan national, that while at her home on Longdenville Old Road, Longdenville, Chaguanas, the child was taken by a woman without her permission.

Sometime later, Hernandez received a telephone call from the suspect demanding $20,000 for the safe release of her daughter. Later that day around 10.50 pm, acting on intelligence, officers proceeded to McInroy Street, Curepe, where they found and safely extracted the baby.

Police Commissioner Gary Griffith co-ordinated the recovery exercise which involved several arms of the police service. The exercise was spearheaded by Ag Snr Supt Curtis Simon and included officers of the Central Division Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Operations Unit, Chaguanas CID, Couva CID, Central Division Gang Unit, the Central Division Task Force, the Longdenville Police Post, the Anti-Kidnapping Unit, the Special Investigations Unit, the Cybercrime Unit, and the Trinidad and Tobago Prison Service.

The three are expected to appear before a Chaguanas magistrate on Tuesday via a virtual hearing.