HERBERT Morrison Technical High School Principal Paul Adams said he prayed for his wife, children, friends, and students during a frightening ordeal in which he was abducted and spent Sunday night in a heavily forested area in St
James.

“When mi dung deh mi pray; mi pray fi mi wife, mi pray fi mi two pickney, mi pray fi mi friend Neisha, mi friend Nordia, mi friend Taylor, and fi mi 1,655 students, and mi seh, ‘Jah Jah, you cyan tek mi from dem now.’ God a God,” Adams told
Television Jamaica (
TVJ) shortly after being rescued by police and soldiers in Garlands, southern St James, Monday afternoon.

Adams also expressed gratitude to the members of the security forces who found him and confirmed earlier reports that he lost consciousness during the ordeal.

He told
TVJ that he had picked up a “pretty girl” but didn’t know what happened after she passed her hand over his nose commenting “Yuh have nice, big nose.”

His motor vehicle was found in a ditch a few metres away from where he was found.

After his rescue Adams was taken to hospital

“I can confirm that he was found and I can say that he sustained injury and was taken to hospital,” Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) President Leighton Johnson told the Jamaica Observer.

Earlier in the day, news of Adams’ disappearance elicited worried responses from the education sector, his colleagues, current and past students. The JTA’s Johnson was among those who issued an appeal for help in locating Adams.

When Adams was found, Johnson was obviously relieved.

“We are really grateful for the outcome of this situation. We thank God that he is alive and that we can now breathe a sigh of relief on how this situation has unfolded,” he said in a press release.

When contacted he was tight-lipped about details of Adams’ ordeal.

Adams was reported missing after he failed to show up for work. On Monday a senior teacher at Herbert Morrison, who asked not to be identified by name, said while they were left rattled by his absence there were no interruptions to the school’s operations. Adams has been the principal of the school since 2002. He served as JTA president from 2001 to 2002, and again from 2011 to 2012.