A Central mother posing as her 11-year-old daughter was able to trap a paedophile who tried to seduce her child via WhatsApp on Thursday night.
The paedophile got more than he bargained for when the mother accepted his proposition and he went over to her home, thinking the child was at home alone. However, he was met by a furious mother, her relatives and neighbours, who gave him the beating of his life before turning him over to the police.
In an interview with the T&T Guardian yesterday, the 35-year-old woman, whose identity is being withheld by this paper to protect her daughter from ridicule, said when her daughter returned home from school on Thursday evening the child seemed badly frightened.
“I asked her what was going on and she said, ‘Mummy, this taxi driver now tell me he wanted my phone number and he ask me if I on WhatsApp,’” she said.
“She told me she was travelling home with her best friend, when the best friend and the other passenger dropped off at the street before and she was left alone in the taxi.
“She said she became afraid when he began talking to her as he had not spoken when the other passengers were in the car and when he asked for the number she gave him it.”
The mother said she took the child’s phone and waited to see if the man would try to contact her.
“I was waiting patiently for him to message her and after 8 o’clock he started messaging her and asking her what she was doing. I messaged back, pretending to be her, and told him I was watching TV. He asked me who was home with me and I told him I was home alone.”
She said he then started trying to convince her to go with him for ‘a ride.’
“I told him I couldn’t leave home as I didn’t have a key for the door and he said we could push the door closed as we would not go far. I told him again I couldn’t leave and he said he would come over instead.”
Around 10 pm, the 29-year-old man did exactly that.
“He pulled up in front of the house, parked and came into the yard. I made my daughter sit in the gallery where he could see her,” the woman said.
But before the man could get close to the child, he was apprehended by the woman’s relatives and neighbours.
“When they asked him what he was doing there, he said he came to check a friend,” she recalled.
The man’s captors promptly beat him, tied his hands and feet with tie straps and called the police. He was arrested and taken to the Chaguanas Police Station.
The woman said she was later surprised to learn the man lived two streets away from her home.
“The police told me where he is from. I was so surprised because I have never seen him before,” she said.
However, she said the man told police yesterday morning that he had been set up by her for an unknown reason.
“He told police I usually hire him to go to Pricesmart, but the thing is I don’t even have a card for that supermarket and I have never seen him before. He couldn’t even give a reason why I would want to set him up.”
She said the child was traumatised by the incident but was doing well yesterday.
The woman is now warning other mothers to be very observant of their children’s behaviour and whom they interact with.
“My biggest fear is that if she didn’t say anything what might have happened. He could have taken my child and not bring her back. Other mothers have to be careful, there are a lot of sick people out there.”
A senior police officer who visited the scene when police were alerted on Thursday night told the T&T Guardian yesterday that the incident could not be classed as a citizen’s arrest. He said the man was being interrogated by officers of the Longdenville Police Station up to last night. The officer said the man is expected to be charged with coercing a minor under the Children’s Act and with entering enclosed premises at night.
Monitor children always
Contacted yesterday on the incident, T&T Police Service public information officer Michael Pierre, said, “Based on what I heard, it is apparent that the mother and child have a good relationship, which is one of the key factors in dealing with such matters. Parents should encourage and develop good relationships with their child or children to enable them to feel comfortable to relate any subject with them.”
He added, “Children should be very careful in giving out information to strangers. Parents should monitor their children’s computer use and cellphones, as such predators utilise social media.
“I commend the young girl for communicating the information with her mother and I urge all young children to do so in such circumstances to a parent, a police officer or a trusted and responsible adult.”
However, he still warned citizens against taking the action which the woman, her neighbours and friends took.
“When such information comes to the attention of a parent they should not take the matter into their own hands, but rather report it without delay to the police.”
Social media praise
The story, along with photos taken by the mother, were posted on Facebook on Thursday night.
By 5 pm yesterday the post had been shared 2,260 times and almost 400 people had reacted to it.
Most people praised the mother for her quick thinking, saying they would have severely harmed the man themselves had they been in a similar position.
But there were also some who questioned why the child gave out her correct phone number.
The mother addressed those people yesterday, stating, “My daughter was afraid for her life. Do you think an 11-year-old girl should be bashed in a situation like this?
“So if she had given him the wrong number and he had tried to call it in front of her and it didn’t ring? What if he had tried to hurt her at that time?”
She also posed this question to people who were criticising her daughter.
“So if we hadn’t caught up with him, wouldn’t he have been free to do this again with someone else’s child? What if that child didn’t have the protection mine has?”