THIRTY-three-year-old Trinidad national Sawak Maraj, who was recently sentenced to four years imprisonment for faking his own kidnapping, has filed an appeal to challenge his conviction and sentence.

In October, Magistrate Fabayo Azore, at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, had found Maraj guilty for faking his kidnapping in 2017. Maraj was also found guilty of providing false information to the police, and was also sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, which will run concurrently.

The appeal was filed by Maraj’s attorneys, Paula and Brandon DaSantos. Particulars of the case allege that on October 27, 2017 and in Georgetown, Maraj knowingly gave false information to the police, stating that he had been kidnapped, and that his abductors had demanded US$700,000 for his release.

It is further alleged that on the same day, while at the Madewini Resort on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway, Maraj conspired with two other persons to obtain the ransom money. According to the police, Maraj arrived in Guyana on October 27, 2017, claiming to have come for a job interview.

He was picked up at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport by two other Trinidadians who had arrived in the country earlier that week. Later that same day, Maraj’s relatives in Trinidad reportedly received a call from an unknown person claiming to have kidnapped Maraj shortly after his arrival here, and demanding that a ransom be paid for his release.
The man’s family was also sent a photograph showing him clad only in his underwear and socks, and one of his alleged abductors holding a cutlass to his neck.

After being contacted by the man’s family in Trinidad, local police and agents from the Force’s Major Crimes Unit immediately sprang into action.

The first thing they did was to review footage from the surveillance camera at the airport, which showed Maraj warmly embracing his two so-called abductors, who turned out to be the said two ‘Trinis’ who’d picked him up at the airport, before boarding a taxi without incident.

Aided by the surveillance tapes, the investigators were able to track down the taxi driver who transported the men from the airport, and trace the call that was made to demand the ransom. It was that call that gave away the location from where the call was made. Armed with such vital information, the agents then hurried to the location, and there they found Maraj, the supposedly kidnapped victim, in an apartment, relaxing and sipping on beverages.