HOURS OF LICKS

A TRAUMATISED Shazam Hosein, 30, described his kidnap and hours of licks minutes after he and two other men were released by men who abducted them on Sunday evening.

“They took us into the forest and beat us for hours...it was hours of licks. Licks with pieces of iron and the flat side of cutlasses. It was real licks," Hosein said. "We begged them to stop. Oh God how I begged. I asked why allyuh doing we this, but all they would say was, ‘where de money? where de money?' Up to now, I still don’t know what money they were talking about."

He described the hours of captivity as torture. Hosein was one of three men kidnapped on the Uquire Road in Freeport on Sunday evening. The three had just returned home from Phagwa celebrations and were pitching marbles with children in the area when they were taken from outside a mini-mart.

A van and a car pulled up and two men claiming to be police put them into the vehicles which drove off. Hosein spoke to Newsday yesterday at the Freeport Health Centre. He suffered a fractured hand and numerous injuries to his back, legs and abdomen as a result of the beating.

Brothers Aaron Roopnarine, 20, and Sunil, 24, were treated for injuries to their backs, legs and heads. With his right arm in a cast, Hosein said he felt he had lived through a nightmare.

"I still cannot believe what happened to us. It was really scary. I keep seeing the images of the cutlass and the pieces of iron moving up and down and they beat we. It was hours and hours of licks. "

He said the three did not see the faces of the kidnappers, who wore masks throughout the ordeal, but only heard their voices. The men also wore bulletproof vests with the word "POLICE" on the front.

After hours of beating, the kidnappers dragged the Roopnarine brothers and Hosein into a car and dropped them off on the roadside at Calcutta No 1, shortly after 11 am yesterday. Someone living nearby saw them and called the police, who took the men to the nearby health centre.

“I can’t understand why (it happened)," Hosein said as he grimaced in pain. "I just don’t understand why. I don’t have money for anyone and I would never steal. I really don’t know how I am going to sleep tonight, I am in so much pain. But I am so thankful to be alive. I could still feel the blows from the cutlass and iron on my body.”

Relatives said they are in shock and could not understand why anyone would want to hurt the men. Hosein's father Kazim told Newsday, "I am just glad he is alive. I just want him home.

"Some parents would lie and tell you that their son or daughter is good, knowing that they are bad. That is not the case with my boy. He is not in anything. I cannot understand this," the weeping father said.

"I raised my seven children on my own for 15 years after their mother died. We are Christians and I know my children. It really hurts to know what happened to my boy." Yesterday morning, Freeport police were questioning several people but no arrest was made.