Venezuelan of Guyanese parentage kidnapped, killed

Last Updated on Saturday, 26 December 2015, 21:01 by GxMedia

A Venezuelan youth born to Guyanese parents was kidnapped and shot dead after efforts to provide a hefty ransom failed, his mother said Sunday.

Farida Mohammed said her 19-year old son, Jonathan Nur Mohammed, was snatched last Sunday (September 22) by five Venezuelans while he was in the company of his now grieving girlfriend. The incident occurred at Restaurante 7 a short distance from where he lived at Puerto Ordaz.

Mohammed, who is originally from Wakenaam, said she had spoken to her son thrice since he was held captive but he did not know the name of the location. Mohammed said she did not know the motive behind the kidnapping of her son. “He was a very loving kid. He was never in police trouble or problems with anyone,” she said.

Speaking to Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com) from Venezuela, she said her son was killed around 8:30 Monday night and his body dumped in a dirty drain.

“We didn’t find him. There was a guy who went fishing early the morning and he saw the body and he called the police,” she said. She said he was shot to his head and upper left side of his back. She could not say definitively whether anyone was arrested.

When the kidnappers first held her son, she said they had given her four hours to provide a ransom of 500,000 Venezuelan Bolivars (GUY$15 million/ US$79,000) for his safe return.

The woman said she had tried selling her car but the deal did not come though in time and in any case the money would have been insufficient.

At the time of the incident, the boy’s father,  Hemchand Singh of Windsor Forest, West Coast Demerara, was in Guyana to visit his sick mother. However, on learning of the incident he tried to muster the funds and rush back to Venezuela.

Nur Mohammed was buried on Saturday in Puerto Ordaz.  His parents own a house at Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo.