Non Pareil businessman kidnapped
Stabroek News
March 24, 2003
A middle-aged businessman, Felix Walker, of Non Pariel East Coast Demerara was on Saturday evening kidnapped by a gang of about four men and subsequently a ransom was demanded by the abductors for his release.
Early yesterday morning an army patrol found the man's vehicle abandoned at the Annandale Public road with bloodstains on the floor of the driver's side. Both the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and members of the Annandale Community Policing Group had responded to the scene where the vehicle was left after they had heard a single gunshot.
Stabroek News was told that Walker was about to enter his yard about 6:30 on Saturday evening after he had visited a neighbour a few doors away when the men pounced on him. He was forced into his own red 4x4 pick-up truck by the kidnappers who then swiftly drove away with him. Stabroek News understands that the abductors lay in wait for Walker and seem to have had knowledge of his whereabouts. Family members were very tight-lipped yesterday, preferring to be quiet hoping that he would be delivered out of the hands of his captors.
However, an independent source told this newspaper that the men had snatched Walker just outside of his gate. According to the source Walker lives about half way through his street and the men who seemed to have known little about the area drove off with him in a southerly direction, resulting in them encountering a cul-de-sac. The source said that the men then turned the vehicle around and took off at high speed on their way out of the village. It was reported also that while at the dead end, the abductors threw Walker's pouch with some of his personal documents out of the vehicle.
According to the source many persons on the street were not aware of the incident and even Walker's wife and children were totally oblivious to what had happened until a resident of the street who had retrieved Walker's pouch took it home to them and related what he had seen. Walker's son later reported to the police that his father had disappeared.
Meanwhile, an army source told Stabroek News that at about 1:25am yesterday a GDF patrol stationed at Church of God road in Buxton and a mobile patrol in the same area heard the sound of a gunshot coming from the direction of the Annandale Public road. Both patrols according to the army source immediately responded. It was reported that at the junction of the Annandale Public road and a cross street west of the Annandale market, the soldiers encountered persons who identified themselves as members of the Annandale Community Policing Group.
The soldiers then recognised Walker's vehicle with his name engraved on the door.
The GDF observed that the lower beam light was on, the key was in the ignition and blood was evident on the floor of the driver's side. The army source said that the community policing group members reported to the soldiers that they too had heard the gunshot and had responded. The vehicle was then taken to Vigilance Police Station.
Residents of Non Pariel were questioning how it was that Walker's vehicle had been found in Annandale at that time of the morning when he had been kidnapped the evening before.
It is not known who was shot in the driver's seat of Walker's car at Annandale.
The police found the body of an unidentified man who had been shot on the University of Guyana Access road in the early hours of yesterday morning. Residents in the area said that they heard gunshots prior to the discovery of the body. (Nigel Williams)
