Kidnap victim's father: I won't let son out of my sight again

More than 24 hours after being reunited with his son who was abducted outside the family’s businessplace in St Augustine, William Samuel says he will not let him out of his sight again.

Samuel’s son Zaheer, 14, was snatched by gunmen and bundled into a car at around 5.30 am on December 18, outside S&S Plant and Garden Shop along the Eastern Main Road (EMR) while offloading plants from a truck.

Samuel was at the side of the building, and by the time he heard the commotion and came to investigate, the gunmen were already driving off with Zaheer.

Twelve hours later, Zaheer escaped from where he was being held in a hunter’s camp in the hills of Valencia after the gunmen left him blindfolded as they believed police were closing in on their location.

Zaheer then trekked through the forest for almost five hours to find any sign of civilisation and was reunited with his family at around 11 pm.

Speaking with Newsday on December 20, Samuel suggested although his son was safe, he would not take it for granted.

“I will keep my eye on him. If I have to stay home and watch him I will do that. If I have to carry him to school and drop him off and then pick him back up every day, I doing that too.

“You know how much pressure my wife went through to make that little boy?

"At 55 I was so proud to make a little boy. Now, after 15 years, you want to come and snatch my son?!”

Samuel added he intended to be more vigilant but said he hoped the police would also increase patrols along the EMR.

The area has seen a rise in extortion this year.

Samuel said although he had never been a victim, more police would reduce the likelihood of businessmen being targeted by extortionists, kidnappers and bandits.

“We still have to protect ourselves and have our eye open. But at the time (the kidnapping took place), half past five in the morning, you expect police to be on patrol. This is the EMR.

“Half past five in the morning, four gunman pull up on the Eastern Main Road in St Augustine and not a police van around. You're supposed to have a patrol on the road because at that time people outside already. Everybody coming out to put out all their goods and open their business.

“What are we going to do and what is the government doing or will do for us? We had Minister Amery Brown come and he support us. He is a kind gentleman and we are thankful for that. But businessmen need more protection.”

Samuel said many businessmen have to fend off criminals while barely making ends meet

“Everybody feel you making money. Someone will drop plants, someone else will drop pots and another person will drop soil, and at the end of the week or fortnight, you have to pay these people.

"You have a rent to pay here too when the month come and your light bill and phone bill. We are just grinding so that we don't have to ask somebody for a dollar. But people feel because you're selling a little plant and you have a van, you have the world of money.”

He also criticised the criminals and accused them of targeting people a particular social class while leaving another alone.

“Who are have the money, you ent even target them. You're always targeting the poor man who have nothing."

Samuel felt that some ethnic groups were being targeted while others were not.

"No (racism) at all, I’m just drawing a reference. Why it's only the Indian man and the Negro man you're targeting? Your own brother and sister.”

He said communities should try to help each other instead of pulling each other down.

“If you you’re hungry, your brother will give you a bread. If you're hungry, your sister will give you a bread. But yet still you'll come and snatch my family! For what? To see what you could get?”

Samuel said the police's Victim and Witness Support Unit had offered counselling to Zaheer, who would have his first session on Saturday.

He said while Zaheer spent his first day at home on his phone and resting. Samuel believes his son's mental health has been affected.

“I believe he's showing a front because last night, he was turning and twisting.

Samuel said the experience would also impact how the family operated daily.

“He likes to go in the bookstore because he is always reading. He likes to buy food too, but now I have to be watching my son all the time. For what? Because you want to take him so you could get a dollar.

"His school books cost thousands of dollars. I am a pensioner so I sell coconuts too, so he could get a little change to go to school. How I could see about my son if I have to be watching him all the time?”

The ordeal, however, has strengthened Samuel’s belief in Allah.

He said Zaheer told him while he was trekking through the forest, he saw a man camping there who helped guide him toward civilisation.

Although his son could not remember the man’s name, Samuel said he wanted to thank him publicly because, were it not for him, his son might not have survived.

“They take my son and carry him in Cumaca where it have snake long like the road. And then they (kidnappers) leave him there and run off.

"Allah’s praises to that good Samaritan who bring him out from inside Cumaca, because anybody who knows Cumaca, knows he could have died.”

Samuel also heaped praise on the people who supported his family and prayed for Zaheer’s safe return.

However, he said he was left vexed by comments some people made after Zaheer’s abduction.

“Some people talk a set of stupidness and say, ‘Allyuh set up that.’

"How that could be a setup? How the ass, I go take my 14-year-old son and carry him in Cumaca where snakes long like the road?

"Come nah man! Bulls---!

“What goes around does come around. So I hope when it reach by them house, nobody say that them set up that.”