Boy, 12, escapes kidnapper who stabbed mother in brutal attack

ANNA Ellis, a 40-year-old geriatric nurse, narrowly escaped death after a male relative stabbed her several times on Long Circular Road on October 11.

In the same incident, her 12-year-old son, a student at Woodbrook Secondary was snatched by the same man and dragged into the nearby, heavily forested area of Dibe Hill.

The boy was later found unharmed by police.

Speaking to Newsday before her son was found, a tearful Ellis prayed for his safe return saying, "I am just worried about my son, this is like a horror story. That man is a psychopath."

She explained the entire ordeal began when she told the male relative that she wanted to end their relationship.

"He was ignoring me at first. He was just moving casual," she said.

Then on October 10, he left the house on Dibe Road, Long Circular, but he took with him a padlock that secured the door. Ellis told Newsday she secured the door by latching it.

Around 2 am on October 11, knocking at the door woke Ellis from her sleep.

"When I realised that it was him I called the police, but I got an answering machine. After, he broke in the door."

A scuffle then ensued with the relative threatening her.

"He was saying ‘I am going to kill you and your son.’

"I pleaded with him to take me and leave my son alone."

Around 2.30 am, the suspect took her out of the house at knife point saying that he was planning to take her to a nearby abandoned hotel where he planned to kill her.

As they were walking on Long Circular Road, she tried to escape.

"I ran off but he chased me. I tried to escape but I fell. He started stabbing me, but I kicked and fought back.

"I just knew if I followed him into that abandoned hotel I would be dead right now."

As she was fighting for her life, a passing van saw the pair. The van stopped and an occupant called for her to get in.

"The woman in the van screamed out: ‘Run girl!’

"I got up and ran for my life. As I was being carried away I heard him screaming that he was going back to the house to take my son away and kill him."

The man then ran back in the direction of Dibe Hill, she said.

"I wanted to go back for my son, but I was bleeding too much," she said. "I was bleeding all over the man’s van."

Ellis was taken to the St James Infirmary where she was treated for her wounds. Newsday understands she was stabbed in her leg, her side and her back.

She informed police about the incident, but when they arrived at the house, both the man and the boy were gone. Ellis was treated for her wounds and discharged.

Police and army officers made multiple trips into the forest, with joint patrol units searching areas in Dibe, Maraval, and other areas in the northern range. Officers utilised canine units and drones for aerial searching.

The suspect had at least a five-hour head start between the attack and the first police searches. A knowledgeable person can gain access to several areas including Maraval, Paramin and other parts of St James through the forest.

Police said the suspect was known to them, having been held under gun charges and other incidents.

Newsday was told that police and army officers planned to go back into the forest, to continue their search.

Newsday was told that the man lived in the area all his life and had knowledge of the forest, as he would frequently go hunting there.

When Newsday visited relatives at the St James Infirmary, they said Ellis had been involved with the suspect for a few months.

"He was showing good signs to her in the beginning," a relative said.

Boy's father: Police ignored my warning

Burke's father, who wished not to be named, told Newsday the man had been threatening her for some time. He said both he and Ellis called the police to intervene, but they did nothing. "This could have been prevented," he said.

The father explained that he maintained contact with Ellis through her work phone, because she did not have one of her own. He said they spoke regularly on Thursdays.

On October 10 she told him about the threats, saying she had cause to call the police on the suspect some days before, but he ran away. She had said that early on that morning, the suspect approached her with a gun after sneaking into her house through a hole in one of the walls that once held an air conditioning unit.

"He told her he wouldn’t harm her but he couldn’t leave her. He said she was his last option," the father said.

After she told him about the threats he promised to call the police

"I called them on Thursday during the day. They said they will get back to me," he said.

"The police called me back around 7 pm on Thursday. I was explaining the same situation to them. You know what the police asked me?

"He asked: ‘So how you get to talk to her if she has no phone?’

"I explained again that I called the number at her job. I asked him why he was asking me all of those things and he hung up the phone.

"About five minutes after, I got another call from the police. This time it was a woman police. I explained the same thing to her, but they never went."

Contacted for comment, head of the Western Division Snr Supt Garvin Henry told Newsday reports of threats were of the highest priority to police.

"Once someone makes a report of a threat, the police must take that report and respond accordingly.

"Threats to one's life are among the highest priority in reports that we respond to. It would mean sending police officers to the location to deal with it, as the situation will require."

Boy found safe

In a later phone interview with Newsday around 9 pm, Henry confirmed that Ellis' son was found unharmed in Dibe, Long Circular.

"We are thankful that through the combined efforts of several sections of the police service and some assistance from the Defence Force, we were able to locate the 12-year-old boy, unharmed and we are very grateful and thankful for that."

While he couldn't provide details, he confirmed the boy was undergoing evaluation at a hospital and the suspect had not yet been apprehended.

"That situation is still sensitive and he is not in police custody at this time."

Ellis’ mother, Carol Turner Grant, confirmed, "He has been freed and is okay.

"Anna (Ellis) is sleeping because she had enough of today. She's sleeping right now. She's on some painkillers because she is in a lot of pain.

"I don't want to give no false information, better the person who went through it give you'll the information and she's not available right now."

(With reporting by Sydney Joseph)

People with information are asked to call 999 or the nearest police station.