| – three men in custodyBy Fareeza HaniffTwenty-two-year-old Shalini Pereira, who has been reported missing for the past 11 days, has been found.The girl’s father, Desmond Pereira, told this newspaper that his daughter made contact with him on Saturday night and told him that, if he wants to see her again, he must go to the New Amsterdam Stelling. Pereira told her parents that on the day (July 10th) that she and her four-year-old son left their Good Hope, East Coast Demerara home for Berbice, she arrived at the New Amsterdam Stelling and was greeted by a man who told her that her husband and her mother-in-law had sent for her.She said that she was taken in a car, and then felt something pierce her arm. She said that she cannot remember what happened after that.However, when Pereira met her parents at the New Amsterdam Stelling on Sunday morning, she was with a man, who identified himself as ‘Sean Paul’. The man told Pereira’s parents that he found her abandoned at a trail leading to a backdam in New Amsterdam.The young mother was taken to the Albion Police Station, where she was further questioned. During the course of the questioning, Pereira collapsed and, according to her parents, was unconscious for over an hour.She was rushed to the New Amsterdam Hospital, where she was admitted. She was transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital yesterday, and according to her mother, Bibi Nesha, the doctors at the New Amsterdam Hospital told her that Pereira was heavily drugged and was assaulted.Her parents reported that Pereira was kept by three men in a benab far into a backdam in New Amsterdam. This information was passed on to the police in New Amsterdam and the men have been arrested.Kaieteur News understands that the men are between the ages of 25 and 30.This newspaper had earlier reported that Pereira had made contact with her parents and was crying uncontrollably over the phone, refusing to say where she was staying. Pereira kept insisting that she was safe and told her parents not to worry.However, now that she has been found, Pereira revealed that the three men, whom she does not know, forced her to make that phone call. She noted that the men threatened to kill her if she told her parents where she was staying.Pereira says that throughout the ordeal she was tied up, and when she screamed for help the men would slap her. The woman revealed that most of the time she was unconscious and cannot recall what happened in the benab.Pereira says that in the yard where the benab is there is another shack, where a “Rastaman” is staying. It was this man, the young woman says, who assisted her by giving her a telephone call on Saturday night when she contacted her parents.Pereira’s mother told this newspaper that she believes that her daughter’s husband is also involved in the kidnapping. Nesha explained that although he has been informed of what transpired with his wife, he paid no interest in visiting her at the hospital, nor did he enquire about her condition.Her mother says that Pereira appears to be in a critical state, since she can hardly open her eyes and is in and out of consciousness.Kaieteur News understands that, last March, Pereira and her husband had a domestic dispute, and since then she moved out from the house and has been living with her parents at their Good Hope, East Coast Demerara home.On July 10 last, Pereira decided that she wanted to return to her husband, and as such left her parents home under the impression that she was heading for Fyrish Village, Corentyne, Berbice.When she did not turned up at his house, her parents filed a missing person report at the Albion and Vigilance Police Stations.They had also appeared on the NCN Six O’ Clock News requesting that persons with information about Pereira’s whereabouts contact them. After that news item was aired, the family received a threatening text message which stated, “If you want to see your f***ing daughter alive, then do as I say and I will keep you posted. Don’t f*** up.” |
