Who stole this boy?

[matthewmazda]

where is Marc Prescott?

By Richard Charan Multimedia Editor



Story Created: May 25, 2014 at 9:01 PM ECT
(
Story Updated: May 26, 2014 at 11:01 AM ECT )


THIS story is meant particularly for the people who know exactly what happened on the afternoon of May 14, 2003, and why. Whoever has the information is encouraged to make the call that may unravel a decade-old mystery. The odds of this happening are longer than the Lotto. Trinidad and Tobago is a country where there are fewer happy endings, and time has a way of replacing initial empathy, with wild conspiracy.

However, you are asked to recall the case of Marc Prescott, since it may be his last chance. Two people have taken their secrets to the grave already.

Marc was six years old when he vanished from outside the San Fernando Boys’ Roman Catholic Primary School at Harris Promenade, 11 years ago this month. Most people connected to the case, his relatives and the police, believe he is alive, most likely in the country, given a new identity by abductors/caregivers, and clueless about his past. Marc will be 18 years old on December 11 this year.

He was taken at a time when kidnapping was a lucrative business in a country already exhausted by violent crime. And if you think it’s outrageous that someone could just disappear on an island of less than 5,200 square kilometres, consider the cases of Deomatie Persad, Pixie Lakhan, or Vijay Persad. What happened when they went missing is all you need to know about why the police and the people continue to fail in finding the lost.

A week before Marc’s abduction, Deomatie, 25, left her then infant daughter at the family’s Cushe Village home and went into the Biche forest, where she was employed on a project to cut a path for a seismic survey. She never came home.

No police went in to help to search. Hunters stepped on her bones three months later. There are people who know who committed the rape and murder. The police never solved it. The infant daughter she left behind eventually stopped believing the story that the helicopters passing overhead taking offshore oil works to the rigs carried her mom who would one day land, so she could return home.

And there would be a final indignity. The family begged for months for Deomatie’s bones to be returned from the Forensic Science Centre. The police said they had to wait for a DNA match to provide legally satisfying proof. That never happened, and the bones were lost. There was never a funeral.

On June 21, 2004, ten-year-old Vijay Persad was taken from outside his father’s mini mart at Indian Walk, Moruga, after his father refused the demand to unlock the door leading into the house and to his wife and three daughters.

For that, Vijay was dragged away into the Moruga forest. The police took too long to come. The boy was long gone by then.

Ragkumar Persad got a ransom call five days later, and his asthmatic son was allowed to speak. The child was never heard from again.

The burglar proofing the family installed after the kidnapping turned out to be a prison from which they could not escape when the house went up in flames in 2008, killing Ragkumar, his wife and two daughters.

Persad lived in misery to the end, with a rumour taking root that “Vijay was taken home by his real father”, that he was a victim of human trafficking, that it was all Persad’s fault for choosing to keep that door locked.

Police consider the case an opportunistic kidnapping and that Vijay died while being kept in the forest while the criminals waited for their $500,000 ransom demand to be delivered.

The suspect, a small-time robber and drug dealer from nearby St Mary’s Village, Moruga, who was held within a week of Vijay’s snatching, was released for lack of evidence. He knew where Vijay’s bones could be found, the investigator believed. But police shot, killed, and silenced him during a car chase years later. That forest grave remains undiscovered.

Less than a year later, Pixie Lakhan vanished after getting out of a taxi, at the intersection of the SS Erin Road, and Spring Trace, Siparia, where she lived.

A missing person’s report was filed regarding the 16-year-old schoolgirl. The police snickered. One of the most senior officers in the district confidently told reporters that Pixie was “living with ah man in Caratal” and would be home when she was “satisfied” (a police mantra to this day).

It was only when village sex offender Paul Vincent Seerattan was held a month later for the rape and murder, one road away, of Pixie’s aunt, Taramatie Toolsie, that he led police to Pixie’s bones, around the corner from her home. Pixie’s father died in 2007 long before the killer was convicted of the murders.

Lyncia Bailey does not want to die without knowing what happened to Marc. She is Marc’s great-aunt, who had cared for him from infancy. Marc’s mother, Genelle, died shortly after his birth, leaving behind Marc and his twin sisters, Cheyanne and Arianne.

At her home in Palmyra, where she still cares for the twins and waits for Marc, Bailey said “sometimes I get up at two in the morning. I pray at night asking God to bring him home. I get up from my bed and open the door, hoping to see him outside there, standing”.

She said: “I wonder sometimes what he looks like now. If they taking good care of him. What did they tell him when they took him? Did he get a good education? This is something important to me. Is he getting love and attention? We would sit and talk about how handsome he would be now. And tall, like his sisters.”

There was a $150,000 ransom demand made for Marc in the first days of his abduction, which most consider to be bogus. However, as in the other cases, the police turned their attention to other matters within weeks of the abduction.

Bailey says it’s likely Marc was taken by someone he knew. When his mother died, other relatives wanted to raise him.

“I know that the (relative) wanted him, but Marc’s father (offshore oil worker) Wayne Prescott let them know he didn’t want to separate the children. The siblings had to grow up together. I have told them (the relatives) that it is they who took him, based on what went on. I don’t believe a stranger took that child. He would not have gone with a stranger. I imparted this to all three. We taught them from small. Which is why, if I die in the morning, I will go believing it is them. It was a wicked act. Wicked and horrifying because time does not make it better. Each day it gets worse. But we keep hoping. Hope has not died for us”.

If you know something...

Marc Prescott, a pupil of the San Fernando Boys’ Roman Catholic Primary School, disappeared around 3 p.m. The school bus driver who took him home made a check of the classroom. Nothing. The teacher remembered Marc copying the last of his schoolwork before leaving the room. None of the children could recall if Marc got into a vehicle at Harris Promenade or was led away on foot. There were no CCTV cameras in the city at the time. There has been much slanderous speculation since. The police do not believe this to be a case of kidnapping, but categorise it as “child stealing”. There is no active investigation currently. If you have information on this case (or any other missing persons case) you are encouraged to contact the writer at richard.charan@trinidadexpress.com, or 353-3430. Or call 800-tips.

[tr1ad]

a lot of people, even majority of the country don't remember these cases

[G-T]

You have to admire the Americans, they have an entire department that deals with cold case files.

[abbow]

cause they value each others life.....unlike here in Trinidad.

the popo here waits for everyone to forget....

[Bareback]

You have to admire the Americans, they have an entire department that deals with cold case files.

Buh wha de jail boy! We have ah whole police force and Ministry dedicated to that!

[88sins]

You have to admire the Americans, they have an entire department that deals with cold case files.

Buh wha de jail boy! We have ah whole police force and Ministry dedicated to that!

He meant solving cold cases dan, not creating them.




Interpol still have Marc Presccott listed as location unknown.

[DVSTT]

What about Sean Luke and Daniel Guerra. Lots of other sickening ones that have been swept under the rug.

[nervewrecker]

Third pic is not pixie?

[mark2.0]

What about Sean Luke and Daniel Guerra. Lots of other sickening ones that have been swept under the rug.

Who is Daniel Guerra?

[UML]

This is the time when the pnm encouraged crime and Indians to migrate. Never return pnm to power!!!

[zoom rader]

This is the time when the pnm encouraged crime and Indians to migrate. Never return pnm to power!!!

RASC and rfari will be pleased

[Average]

What about Sean Luke and Daniel Guerra. Lots of other sickening ones that have been swept under the rug.

They caught Sean Luke's killers. Last time I checked they were in YTC.

From what it appears on the outside, the police don't seem to care about "missing persons" because they are afraid to end up with egg on their faces when a case ends with a girl really being with a man locked up in a house. I say, in cases like that they should charge the so called missing person with wasting police time and have them pay a fine or do some work somewhere.
It's only by doing this, can they focus all their energies in cracking cases.

[Country_Bookie]

2003 saw the death of innocence
SEAN DOUGLAS Sunday, January 4 2004


The year was blighted before it began with the tragic shooting of a child.

Three-year-old Reba Aaliyah Aberdeen at the start of the year was watching New Year’s fireworks from the porch of her home in Coconut Drive, Morvant, when she was shot in the head by a stray bullet illegally fired in celebration. Days later, Reba died. Her death was a bad omen for the whole year which saw a record 227 killings, including other innocent infants caught in the crossfire. But as frightening as it was for innocents to be caught by stray bullets, the reality of most shootings was perhaps no less terrifying — organised groups of men were deliberately and systematically shooting and killing individuals. The pattern was the same. The victim, sometimes a suspect in a recent crime, was shot by a gang of gunmen who would appear out of a hillside track or alight from a car. These were targetted, reprisal assassinations, colloquially misnomered “executions”. Other victims were abducted, then found dead with their hands tied behind their back and shot in the head.

The country continued to descend into a frenzy of tit-for-tat killings spawned by gang wars, themselves fuelled by the illicit drug trade and rivalry for social aid like URP and NHA works. Young poor black males, who had gone to school together, bathed the Laventille/Morvant hills with each other’s blood. And the killings weren’t confined to Morvant/Laventille. The killings spilt out into other areas. By year-end victims included residents of upscale Petit Valley and Westmoorings. On August 13 the mansion of executed drug-runner, the late Dole Chadee, burnt down. But that wasn’t the end of his “empire”. Reports are that his “heirs” had in 2003 been collecting outstanding debts owed to Chadee’s “estate”, through a campaign of kidnapping the relatives of debtors. Prayer-vigils, marches and consultations were held, all urging action, but the politicians largely continued to use crime to score cheap political points.

Officials blamed the upsurge in killings and kidnappings on the drug trade, but then Attorney General Glenda Morean showed the size of the problem by revealing that the amount of money illicitly laundered through Trinidad and Tobago annually was $30 billion — about 40 percent more than our 2003 National Budget! Everyone had some suggestion to make as to how to eradicate crime, but there was much finger-pointing at each other, with no clear consensus as to the causes of crime or its solutions. Minister of Trade, Ken Valley, and United States Ambassador, Dr Roy Austin, argued over whether the crime upsurge was caused by an increase in US deportees, which Minister of Social Development, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid numbered at some 236 per year. San Juan Business Association president, Gail Merhair, disclosed that 80 percent of her group’s members had sent their children abroad for fears of kidnapping. But Prime Minister Patrick Manning told nationals at Howard University, Washington DC, that some kidnappings were not genuine.

The Opposition criticised Manning for attributing the flood of illegal guns on political instability in Venezuela, for meeting criminals he had dubbed “community leaders” at Cascadia Hotel, and for saying the average citizen had little to fear from gang crime. Junior Minster of Trade, Diane Seukeran, spoke for many when in her Budget contribution she admitted “I am afraid,” and declared that the country was at war as she urged the Opposition to support Government anti-crime initiatives. Speaking at a seminar with former New York Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, Clico head Claudius Dacon, declared: “The crime wave has changed our country and has changed us.” Indeed year-end saw some churches cancel their traditional Old Year’s midnight mass because of fear of crime. Government policy to tackle crime was a mixture of success and failure. Under then Minister of National Security Howard Chin Lee, and then Commissioner of Police Hilton Guy, the country enjoyed a relatively peaceful Carnival. New Minister of National Security Martin Joseph, and acting CoP Everard Snaggs kept the streets of Port-of-Spain safe for Christmas with beefed up joint police/army patrols.

The Crime-Stoppers boasted its hotline had taken over 4,000 tip-off calls from 1999 to 2003. The Committee Against Crime ran a campaign tittled “Take ME out of CRIME” saying offences like littering, swearing and bad-driving had made us into a lawless society. Critics said the campaign was trying to lay blame elsewhere. RC priest Fr Clyde Harvey, speaking in July at the funeral for slain photographic shop owner Gerald Punch (34), urged: “Stop making excuses for crime.” In the Budget, Manning announced the formation of a new Special Crime Fighting Unit headed by Brigadier Peter Joseph, but the Opposition said this body might be a “Mongoose Gang”. Other measures he announced were more police patrols, acquisition of two new patrol boats and a hi-tech radar system both to stop drug-running, and stricter laws for offences of illegal arms and kidnapping. In his Budget statement Manning declared: “The population is being terrorised as the criminals have declared virtual war on this society...We now declare war on the criminals...” The Government said it was recruiting more Special Reserve Police, and by late December some 376 new officers had passed out.

On November 20 the UK-based Privy Council ended this country’s mandatory death penalty for murder, but exactly a month later newly-appointed Attorney General John Jeremie vowed to take on the Law Lords. Eyebrows were raised when then Minister of Legal Affairs Camille Robinson-Regis, said in her Budget speech that all citizens were to be fingerprinted and given an identifying number, this information to form part of their records in the Ministry of National Security. A warmer welcome was given to the installation of security cameras on Charlotte Street by the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA), a measure Manning said he would like to see the group extend. On December 20, just back from visiting US President George W Bush at the White House, Manning said he was taking steps to eradicate the local drug trade to address US concerns over terrorism.

The year 2003 saw 227 murders and 49 kidnappings, up from 172 and 29 respectively in 2002. The most prominent murders were those related to gang-warfare, including the Jamaat al Muslimeen, the involvement of children as both victims and killers, and the deaths of kidnap victims. On June 4 casino supervisor Jillia Bowen (31), and expelled Jamaat member Lincoln Alexis aka Salim Rasheed were shot dead at Movie Towne, Invaders Bay, while Bowen’s common-law husband, Clive Lewis aka Adil Ghani (36) was wounded. On August 22 Jamaat leader, Yasin Abu Bakr, appeared in court charged with conspiracy to murder, and was granted $250,000 bail. The case continues. On November 20 Phillip Seerattan (17), who had been denied enrolment to the International School at Westmoorings, stole his father’s 9mm pistol, entered the school, shot a guard and took a 15-year old hostage. Seerattan was killed in an exchange of gunfire with the police. An inquest into his death continues. On August 10, the inquest began into the mysterious death of Akiel Chambers (11), some five years prior on May 24 1998 in the swimming pool of the Maraval home of businessman and race-horse owner Charles James. The inquest united the public not just in grief, but in outrage at the twists and turns in the receiving of evidence.

Many killings were gang-related. These included the March 14 killing of Neil “Big Neil” Lewis (50) of La Pump Extension, Trou Macaque, in what police dubbed a “hit” in a drug war. On March 23 high-ranking Jamaat member Mark Guerra was abducted and taken to Wallerfield and killed. On April 2 Delene Long (50) was killed at home in Gonzales at a birthday party. She was the mother of a child of Neil “Big Neil” Lewis and police suspect her killing was related to those of Lewis and Mark Guerra. On May 2 gunmen shot at a Mercedes-Benz in an assassination attempt on Jamaat-linked Lincoln Alexis aka Samil Rasheed and Ken “Kazim” Gonzales and four year old Jayideah Gonzales. Many children were victims of shootings. On April 18 Jammal Jerome (16) was shot dead and his sister Sherifa Jerome (13) was shot in her stomach in Gonzales, in what police said was a case of mistaken identity, by four men with pistols and shotgun who broke into the house shouting “Police! Police!”

On May 5 eighteen-month old baby Shanice Callender was shot and injured, along with her mother Arlene Callender (36) and Garvin Jones (24) when attacked at their home at Beverly Hills by five men. On June 15 a man trying to elude assassination used a woman, Crystal Best (20), and her two-year-old son, Rondell, as human shields. Mark Granger was shot dead, a stone’s throw from St Barb’s Police Station. Mother and child miraculously survived. On July 16 Joanna Walker (13) of Mentor Alley, Laventille, was accidentally shot dead when she stepped outside for fresh air by a man gunning for a Muslim man. That same day Simone Pierre (14) was stabbed to death by a relative. The year saw two early-teen boys killed over women; two cases of early-teen girls killers, and two fathers gruesomely murdering their infant sons. Some kidnappings ended with the release or escape of the victims. Shamshoon Mohammed (33) was abducted from an aerobics class at the Caroni Community Center. In protest villagers blocked the road and burnt down the old local post office. She escaped.

On September 15 Tricia Suryadevera (26) of Princes Town was kidnapped, one year after a similar attempt on her businessman father had failed. One young “kidnap victim” was found to have set up his own abduction to extort money from his father, and officials cast doubt on the veracity of several others. Tragically, some kidnappings ended in death. On July 23 Damien Schneider (35) was found dead. On September 8 kidnapped Point Lisas businessman Vernon Roopnarine (50) was found beaten to death in Petit Valley. On August 22 the body was found of the main State witness in a kidnapping case against Selwyn “Robocop” Alexis, Brian Cole, Kevin Simpson and Rooplal Harrichan. Due to testify in the kidnapping of South businessman Saran Kissoondan, Kevin Richards was found dead in a bag containing pieces of concrete, floating in a pond in Longdenville, his hands bound with yellow cord. The case was discontinued for lack of evidence.

Crime also affected the upper-class residences. On October 9 Tessa Stollmeyer (47) of Westmoorings, fought off two armed kidnappers in front of her small daughter. On December 2 Christopher Aleong, head of Mac Foods and brother of former BWIA CEO Conrad Aleong, was shot dead in a hail of bullets at his Petit Valley home. Days before on November 30 retired Scotiabank employee and social worker, Annette Farah, was shot dead in company at her Westmoorings house by a jewel thief. On August 26 cocaine washed up on shore at Manzanilla. Soon bodies too started washing up. Villlagers scrambled for cocaine. Men claiming to be police descended on villages seeking the drugs.

In 2004 we will see whether the Government can stop these gruesome killings and kidnappings by eradicating the drug-trade.

http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,13615.html

[*$kїđž!™]

What about Sean Luke and Daniel Guerra. Lots of other sickening ones that have been swept under the rug.

Who is Daniel Guerra?

..Police: No other suspects in Daniel’s murder
By Susan Mohammed susan.mohammed@trinidadexpress.com
Story Created: Sep 19, 2013 at 11:19 PM ECT
Story Updated: Sep 20, 2013 at 6:04 PM ECT
THERE are no other suspects in the killing of schoolboy Daniel Guerra.
This was the word yesterday from homicide officers, in response to the court’s ruling in which Detective Constable Darwin Ghouralal, who was charged with the eight-year-old child’s murder, was freed at the end of the preliminary enquiry on Wednesday.
A senior officer of the Homicide Bureau in the Southern Division was asked yesterday if the police were investigating other suspects in the killing.
“We have no such information regarding any other persons of interest in the case,” said the officer.
“If that was so, we would have been pursuing that investigation all along.”
Ghouralal, who had 15 years’ service as a police officer and last worked with the Robbery Squad of the Southern Division, first appeared in court on April 12, 2011, facing the allegation that he killed the boy on a date unknown between February 17-21 that year.
Guerra’s decomposing body was found in a river along Tarouba Link Road, two days after the Standard Two pupil of Gasparillo Government Primary School went missing.
On Wednesday, Magistrate Rajendra Rambachan upheld a no-case submission made by Ghouralal’s defence attorney, senior counsel Sophia Chote.
Upon the ruling, Chote told reporters that justice had been served, since the State brought years of evidence which could not stand up to scrutiny. She said the evidence in the enquiry “clearly pointed in another direction”.
“I hope that in the interest of justice that proper enquiries are made in relation to that person,” said Chote.
Daniel’s uncle, Renold Indarsingh, said the family was seeking justice for the boy’s death.
“Justice has to prevail somehow,” said Indarsingh. “Everyone (in the family) is going to be upset about this.”
The Express visited Ghouralal’s home in La Romaine where neighbours said he came home Wednesday night to his wife and children and appeared happy.
No one answered the door yesterday.

[kerwinishere]

Well I know the Indarsingh family personally and honestly that police man is the worst thing to happen to them....he should go die for what he did