The 22-year-old woman, who had disappeared after dropping her son off at her husband’s home in Berbice, emerged yesterday with a tale of being drugged and beaten.

Shalinie Pereira-Paul had left her parents’ Good Hope, East Coast Demerara home two Thursdays ago with her four-year-old son to return to her husband’s home in Berbice. She never arrived, although an 11-year-old girl had delivered Pereira-Paul’s son to his paternal grandparents, telling them that the child’s mother asked her to take him there.

She was admitted to the New Amsterdam (NA) Hospital yesterday after falling in and out of consciousness and acting strangely. He father, Desmond Pereira told Stabroek News yesterday that his daughter had called him and her mother  and said that she wanted to see them. He said that they arranged to meet at the NA stelling and when his daughter came, she was in the company of a young man. He said that he asked to see where they were living and was taken to a home at Stanleytown, Berbice. He said that as they were going home Pereira-Paul began to act strangely. Asked what was wrong, she said that she was drugged and her father noted that she had marks on her hands.

Pereira said that they went to the NA police station at 2:30 pm where a report was made and were finally taken to the hospital at around 5:30 pm. He said that Shalinie was falling in and out of consciousness and declared that the police told them that they weren’t going to “follow the story”, if they (parents) took Shalinie to the hospital themselves.

Pereira said that his daughter had told them that on Thursday she was stranded at the stelling after she had dropped off her son with the 11-year-old girl. According to him, Shalinie said that the young man told her that her mother-in-law and her husband told him to “collect her”. He took her to his home instead. According to Pereira, Shalinie said that she went with him because she did not know where else to go and did not want to return to her husband. Pereira had earlier called her parents and said that she was okay but refused to provide an address and Pereira said that she told them that the man told her to tell her mother that she was okay and drugged her to keep her quiet.

After she began acting strangely, Pereira along with the police went to the Stanleytown home, where three men, including the one who had been with Shalinie were found. They were taken to the NA police station but up to last evening only the young man, with whom Shalinie was found, remained there.