Three weeks after 16-year-old Akeem Bissoon of ‘A’ Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown disappeared at an abandoned airstrip in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazarui), his mother is still searching for answers.
The teen’s mother, Jennifer Henry, says police ranks continue their search but she is calling on the family member who took her son on the trip to do more to help in finding the young Bissoon.
The teen lived with his aunt and her husband, who he called his uncle. On June 08, the teen and his uncle left their Sophia home. The pair was en route to the uncle’s workplace. But due to mechanical issues with their vehicle, they stopped at an airstrip in Region Seven.
The next day, Jennifer Henry was told that her son was missing.
The worried mother says her son spoke to her just hours before he disappeared on Tuesday, June 14. Her brother-in-law told police that the teen went missing on the same day but Henry said her brother-in-law did not tell her immediately.
“I hear from my next brother-in-law that was in town. He call me on Wednesday afternoon 5 O’clock and tell me that Akeem missing today 12 O’clock. That was Wednesday [June 15] and till Wednesday night is when I get to confirm with Andrew Harlequin (the uncle) that it wasn’t Wednesday, it was since Tuesday afternoon 5 O’clock,” Henry explained.
Before leaving, Akeem told his mother he was going on the trip for fun. But while travelling, the tractor developed an issue and Bissoon and his uncle set up camp at the airstrip. The uncle was the only person with the teen when he disappeared. He was held in custody at the Bartica Police Station for 72 hours before he was released.
The teen’s mother is suspicious of the reason the man and her son stopped at the airstrip. She said he told her a different version of what happened as compared to what he told the police.
She said he told the police that, “he and my son was fishing at the waterside and he had to clean the fish and he left Akeem by the waterside to take in the fish to the camp. And when he go in and come out back, he ain’t see Akeem by the riverside. Akeem Slipper alone was there.”
But he told her that he was cooking and Akeem was sitting at the door, “when he turn around within two to three minutes, Akeem was nowhere at the door, when he came out and look back he was nowhere to be seen,” she continued.
Henry who visited the area said that it is not safe for a child. She wants her brother-in-law to take responsibility and tell the police what really happened.
“Well I would really like for my brother-in-law that was responsible for he [Akeem] at the time, to be held accountable and I would like to ask him to talk the truth, what really happen at the time of my son’s disappearance… once he talks the truth we will know where my son is,” the crying mother said.
Before Bissoon went on the trip he told his mother that he wanted to finish school. Although he was having some behavioural issues at school, the teen was determined that he would write his Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams next year.
“He always tell me, “mommy when I finish writing CXC, I want to do a trade. He wants to do construction and electrician…He a very passionate boy, very passionate,” she described her son.
According to Henry, her sister and brother-in-law claim to love her son but they haven’t been very helpful in searching for him. Instead, she had to contact the Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn and the Region Seven Commander, Dion Moore, both of whom assured her that the search is ongoing.
Persons with information on Bissoon’s whereabouts can contact his mother on 684-7056 or the nearest police station.