Twenty-three-year-old mom goes missing

Mar 27, 2011 News

– left home saying she was going to ‘collect child support’

Another woman is reported missing. Shanaz Azeem, 23, of Cornelia Ida, West Coast Demerara left her home on Tuesday, last, under the pretext of obtaining child support for her three-year-old daughter, Safnaz Persaud, from the child’s father.

The missing twenty-three-year old woman, Shanaz Azeem

To date, she has not returned home, leaving members of her family worried and in an emotional uproar, as to Shanaz’s location.

Three-year-old Safnaz Azeem

Her mother, Bibi Azeem, told Kaieteur News that Shanaz visited a paternal aunt on Phagwah Day and promised to return the following day (Monday) so as to “prepare her daughter for school the next day”.
A family friend telephoned Bibi to make her aware that Shanaz was at the Guyana National Stadium with a gentleman “sporting” during the Phagwah Day celebrations. This left the family surprised and ashamed.
Bibi stated that Shanaz did not return until Tuesday, after she telephoned her daughter and spoke sternly to her, explaining that the little girl needed to be taken care of and preparations needed to be made in order for her to resume classes.
The distraught mother explained that after having a brief but serious conversation with Shanaz upon her arrival on Tuesday, she (the mother) retired to her bedroom to “take some rest” around 11:00 am, after completing some household chores.
Kaieteur News understands that when Bibi awoke around 02:00pm, she did not notice Shanaz in the house and enquired from Shanaz’s brother and step-father about her daughter’s whereabouts.
They told Bibi that Shanaz was “well dressed wearing a blue hard pants, light yellow blouse, black shoulder bag and black shoes” and left the house.
According to Bibi, her grand-daughter stated that she ran to the gate behind her mother (Shanaz) asking where she was going and Shanaz responded by saying “Ah going to collect child support for you.”
Since then, Shanaz has neither returned home nor has she contacted anyone to notify them of her whereabouts. Bibi stated that she, like other members of the family, has been continuously calling her daughter’s cellular number but it keeps saying that “the phone is turned off”.
The woman told this newspaper that she was made to understand that Shanaz has been “going around with a boy from Canal #1 named Dave” and that the young man is said to be a “drugs man”.
She fears that her daughter is now involved with this man and is in some form of trouble since she cannot be located. Bibi went on to say that her daughter has never behaved strangely before and when she contacted her grand-daughter’s father, he stated that he has not seen Shanaz for awhile and she did not visit or contact him for any assistance or child support.
Shanaz’s mother is appealing to members of the public to contact the nearest police station if they have any knowledge of her daughter’s whereabouts or to please tell her daughter to make contact with her family as soon as possible.