A 14-year-old Staten Island girl and her family returned safely to their home after a man attempted to kidnap the teen during a vacation in St. Maarten.
Alisha Warraich and her mother, Laura Warraich, are inseparable these days following a week-long Caribbean cruise that nearly ended in disaster.
“It was traumatic,” the girl’s mother told WCBS/Channel 2 on Monday night.
Last Monday, the family was on the first portion of their cruise to St. Maarten. Alisha had just stepped off a water taxi when she said a man grabbed her arm and began to drag her away.
“I was so scared and nervous. I was so shocked that I couldn’t even scream or anything,” she said.
The suspect whispered a creepy message into the girl’s ear before attempting to nab her.
“He’s like, ‘I’ll see you later princess,’ and he started pulling me into the other crowd,” she said. “I kind of like elbowed him, and grabbed my arm away and ran as fast as I could.”
That’s when the teen ran to her dad, who restrained the man until police arrived and arrested him.
The consulate of the Caribbean island sent an e-mail to the shocked family saying that police determined “the man in question is mentally handicapped, and they do not believe he intended to harm your daughter. [He] will likely be banned from walking near the cruise ship terminal.”
Laura Warraich said she believes the suspect may have been part of a ring targeting girls.
“He knew exactly were to stand and how to take her,” she said.
Warraich has said that she’s just glad to be home.
“I feel better because this could have happened to someone else and they might not have been as fortunate as I was to get away from him,” she said.
A judge is expected to order a psychiatric evaluation and inpatient treatment for the suspect, authorities said.