Relief and anger.
These were the two emotions felt by 18-year-old Sangre Grande resident Adeeba Ali, after her two-year-old son Umar was found on Monday after being reportedly abducted by a close male relative for almost a week.
In a brief interview at her family’s home at Quash Trace, Sangre Grande, yesterday afternoon, Ali said she was in a state of disbelief after her sister called to tell her that her son had been found by members of the Hunters’ Search and Rescue Team in a forested area off Barkar Trace, Coalmine, near to where the relative lives.
“I did not believe it at first because I heard it before from so many people this week,” Ali said yesterday.
She said she only felt a sense of relief after she went to the Sangre Grande Police Station and found her son drawing on a piece of paper while under the supervision of police officers.
“I felt relief when I heard the news but when I saw his condition I felt upset knowing that he (the relative) put him through that,” she said, as she clutched the toddler tightly.
Ali said her son was medically examined and was found to be in general good health, except for a few insect bites to his face.
While she said her son appeared happy to be reunited with her, she noted that his usual appetite had not returned.
“Usually, every morning he would want tea. When he got up this morning, when I got the tea for him he did not drink it. He is not eating at all right now, just a little cereal and milk,” Ali said.
Although Ali did not visit the area where her son was being held after his abduction, she claimed she was told that he was found in a hammock under a tarpaulin affixed to a tree. She said he was also found in just a makeshift diaper constructed from an oversized T-shirt.
“He was smelling horrible,” Ali said.
She suggested that the child’s relative must have had the assistance of friends and relatives, as the team that found him alone in the forest camp found discarded food boxes nearby.
“He (the relative) cannot put out money to buy pampers but can pay people to help him hide the boy,” she said.
Ali said before her son’s abduction, she had made an application to the Family Court for sole custody of her son, which she would now continue to pursue.
On Monday, a news team from Guardian Media spoke to the child’s paternal grandmother, Zorida Mohammed, who had also called on the relative to return the boy.
Mohammed said she knew the close male relative who took the child but added that she had not seen him or heard from him since the abduction last week.
However, Guardian Media was told that after our team left Mohammed’s residence at Barkar Trace, someone from the area called the police and tipped them off on the whereabouts of the suspect.
The police then notified the Hunters’ Search and Rescue team and together met up with them and trekked into the forest, where they later found little Umar alone.
One week ago, two-year-old Umar was snatched by a close male relative from his home in Sangre Grande. The child was asleep at the time.
The suspect was not arrested up to late yesterday.
Investigations are continuing.