By CECILY ASSON Tuesday, October 23 2012

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Ann-Marie Mathura...

A 48-year-old victim of domestic violence who has been reported as missing is in a safe house as the search for a close male relative continues, a senior police officer confirmed yesterday.

Police told Newsday the whereabouts of Ann-Marie Mathura, 43, cannot be revealed to anyone as threats have been made on the woman’s life.

On September 28, Mathura was allegedly abducted from her parents’ home at Garth Road, Princes Town, by a man she knew. No one was home at the time she was snatched.

Mathura recently broke off a three-year relationship with the man and because of previous threats made on her life, a missing person’s report was made to the Princes Town Police Station..

Relatives told Newsday yesterday the mother of one “disappeared” the same day she had visited the police station and obtained a restraining order against the man. The matter was due for hearing on October 1 and the suspect had been served a summons to appear in court.

For three days, no one saw or heard from Mathura, Newsday was told. A report further stated that on October 2, she managed to escape from a forested area in Tableland where she was allegedly found by a gardener naked and tied to a tree. She was given clothing and subsequently taken to the Princes Town Police Station. At about 5 pm the same day, relatives said police brought her for a brief visit to her Garth Road home before being whisked away to an unknown destination by the officers. Relatives managed to give her some clothing.

Yesterday Mathura’s worried mother, Meena, 63, and her sister, Pamela Seeram, 41, told Newsday they have been having sleepless nights as they have not seen or heard from the police about her whereabouts. Mathura was last seen in the company of police officers.

Seeram told Newsday: “They are not telling us anything. My sister has a 17-year-old daughter and it has not been easy for us at all. If they have her in a safe house let us know, but we are not getting any word at all and it is getting us sick.”

She said there has not been “even a phone call, not a word,” from those in authority. Even if we can’t see her, at least tell us that she is well, let us hear her voice if it is for one second just to know all is well.”

Seeram recalled on September 28 she and her mother left Mathura alone at home to attend the nearby Open Bible Church but when they returned she was gone.

Seeram said because of death threats made on Mathura’s life they immediately went to the police station where they made a missing person’s report.

She said Mathura does not own a cell-phone and that made matters worse. She added that her sister was a victim of domestic abuse.

“This man would beat my sister; he broke her nose. Right now she has no front teeth as he cuffed them out. He would beat her and even showed her the fork that he would use to bury her when he killed her.”

Seeram said she was happy when the police came to their home and said they had found her.

“When I looked at her in the jeep I couldn’t believe it was my sister. She had marks and bruises about her body. She whispered to me what she went through while in the forest. She said she was tied up and beaten.”

Seeram said she managed to give her sister some clothing and something to eat and that was the last she knew of her.

She said her anxious mother has been searching the hospital and mortuary for her daughter.

“People say she might dead. All we want from the police is to say something,” Seeram said.

The family added that they are living in fear as the man has began threatening their lives and that of the Mathura’s daughter.

“He comes out on the road right there and makes threats. He is violent, he is cruel. Police can’t seem to catch him,” Seeram said. But not only the mother and daughter are scared for their lives. Another woman who shared a relationship with the suspect said she is also in fear of her life.

Newsday spoke to the mother of four at her home in Penal. She was forced to take out a restraining order against the same man who she said tortured her on several occasions. They have been separated for four years. However, she said he has now found out where she lives and has began frequenting the area. She keeps her gate locked.

“ I left him several times during the 12 years I lived with him. I spent nine months moving from safe house to safe house to get away from him. He will hunt until he finds you. He is a very dangerous man,” she said.

Showing several scars about her body, including one on her knee she received when he threw hot oil on her, the woman said she wished police would hold him so she could live a normal life.