A man on suicide watch in a police station holds the key to finding out the whereabouts of eight-year-old Hope Arismandez, who vanished from her home in Chaguanas at the weekend.

Urged on by a desperate mother, the 28-year-old truck-driver was questioned yesterday by Homicide and Anti-Kidnapping Squad officers.

He has denied doing anything bad to the girl who was left in his care.

Police were told that a man took Hope from her family’s apartment at Limehead Road, Chase Village, on Saturday night.

Hope is a first standard pupil of the Carapichaima Roman Catholic Primary School.

She lives with her mother Sherma Rajoon, 48, and brother Kirk, 14. She is the youngest of Rajoon’s five children.

Rajoon works two jobs and was at a supermarket in Chaguanas on Saturday when her daughter disappeared.

Rajoon said Hope called her at 9 p.m. and said the man was preparing a meal of chicken and fries for her. Half-an-hour later, Rajoon arrived home to find the apartment empty.

The man returned at 11 p.m. and said he had gone to fill his gas tank and had left Hope with a tenant.

The man said he decided to drink two beers before returning to the apartment. The tenant said she knew nothing of Hope’s whereabouts.

Neighbours told Rajoon they saw Hope leave in a man’s vehicle.

Rajoon said she then called the police.

She is asking for the public’s help in finding her daughter.

Rajoon said anyone finding Hope should drop her home or ask for her cell phone number, which Hope had memorised.

Last night, investigators began questioning Hope’s neighbours trying to get any information that could help them trace the girl.