http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,99442.htmlWoman decoy lures victims
By NALINEE SEELAL Saturday, May 2 2009
In a cleverly coordinated effort, a woman posed as a decoy passenger for a man to give comfort to unsuspecting young women and girls to travel in his taxi.
The devious plan was to lure female passengers into the taxi, kidnap and rob them of jewelry and other valuables, sexually assault them, and then end their lives.
Most of these abductions started late last year, and up to yesterday, three of five victims were still missing. They are Sally Lobai, 26, of Oropune Village, Piarco, eight-year-old Leah Lammy of Longdenville, and Riana Parag, 18, of Dam Road, Longdenville. Investigators believe the three victims are dead, although their bodies have not been found.
Their disappearances are linked to the murders of Plipdeco clerk Susan Phagoo, 28, and Devika Lalman, 15. Their bodies have been found but the jewelry they were wearing when they disappeared has not been recovered.
A bag of jewelry found at the Felicity home of the woman decoy passenger has proven to be the link in the cases of these five victims, who are believed to have been abducted, raped, and killed by a serial killer who operated between Chaguanas, Longdenville, Cunupia, Warrenville and Freeport.
Yesterday, the 27-year-old woman remained in custody at the Arouca Homicide Bureau, after her arrest on Wednesday. Police yesterday decided to detain her further because of new information they received before going to Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Carla Brown-Antoine for instructions. The woman was initially expected to be charged with receiving stolen jewelry, but investigators discovered some of the pieces in her possession belonged to one missing victim, Sally Lobai. Sally’s boyfriend identified a chain he had given her from among the jewelry, and even took investigators to the store in Trincity Mall where he bought the gift.
On Thursday, police took a bag of jewelry to the home of Ada Padarath in Las Lomas and asked her if any of the pieces belonged to her daughter Devika Lalman. Padarath told Newsday her daughter had on a pair of gold earrings and a chain with a gold pendant with her name, Devika, when she left for Chaguanas on December 30, last year.
“I looked at all the jewelry, but none belonged to my Devika,” said Padarath yesterday. She said not a day goes by that she does not cry for her daughter.
“May 10 is Mother’s Day, and it will not be a happy time for me, because Devika is not with me, will never return. All I have of her is memories and her smiling photos, which I will always cherish,” she said. Padarath, who has two other girls, said Devika dreamt of becoming a policewoman because she wanted to protect children from abuse, but she ended up being raped and murdered.
Devika was last seen boarding a taxi in the vicinity of Price Plaza, Chaguanas last December. When her semi-nude body was found in Warrenville in January, her jewelry, a pair of slippers, a sweater, shoes and a bag containing books she had purchased in Chaguanas were not recovered. An autopsy revealed she was beaten to death and had been raped.
Padarath yesterday said she understood the woman in police custody could help solve the murders of several young women, including Devika. Rosabelle Phagoo, mother of Susan Phagoo, said Susan had her laptop, jewelry, cash, and an expensive cellphone with her while she waited for transport in Chaguanas on March 5. Her body was found in Freeport, two days later an autopsy revealed she was raped and beaten to death. None of her valuables have been recovered. Phagoo said she shared the pain of the mothers of Sally, Devika, Leah and Riana.
“I depended on my daughter and she was such an angel. I will never be able to replace her or get over her brutal murder,” said Phagoo.
She now takes extreme caution with her other 16 year-old daughter. Apart from the jewelry, the other clues the police have linking the woman with the disappearance of the women are phone records, which indicate calls were made to her from a cell phone that belonged to Leah. On Tuesday, police searched a canefield in Warrenville for Leah, but they came up empty handed.
