The Torture of a Kidnap Victim

Last weeks column hit a raw nerve in society. I received hundreds of e-mails and telephone calls from all over the world. Ms. X's ordeals showed the human suffering, torture and abuse a kidnap victim was forced to endure during captivity. The unvarnished, raw reality made an impact on every functioning conscience.

Everyone wanted to know why Ms X told her story to the world. What motivated her to emerge from the darkness of her suicidal depression and tell us about her ordeal, I asked? "Every one just shrugs it (kidnapping) off' she explained. Until it happened to her, she too simply shrugged it off after the usual 'O Gosh! Anedder one?' That brief, almost mandatory, momentary pause is the space that defines the extent of our human reaction to this crime. In that single moment of detached reflection we summarize and surmise another wealthy man's loved one who has been snatched but eventually he will pay up and the victim will be freed. We thus carry on our daily life as though it were a news item from the Middle East.

Our society is no longer shocked by this relatively new crime of kidnapping. There has been little or no public manifestation of outrage and protest. And bold faced, brazen kidnappings continue in a country where this crime is less than five years old.

We have compartmentalized each horrible kidnapping, rationalizing away the pangs of our conscience on the ground that there is more in the mortar than the pestle, (drug related?) or on the basis of the perceived and presumed wealth of the affected family.

The indifference to kidnapping has assumed class, ethnic and political dimensions. The large masses of people have little or no fear of being kidnapped because they have no wealth to pay a ransom and would not be targeted by kidnappers. The Afro-Trinidadian community feels relatively secure because kidnappers have primarily targeted Indians and a few Chinese and Whites. Politically, Manning must downplay kidnappings (they are 'bogus', a plot by the UNC to make the government look bad, or it must be viewed in the context that crime is on the rise regionally and globally) lest he concede failure

Many victims have been encouraged by Ms. X's story. It gave emotional colour to what had become a colourless crime. Last week I was able to speak to ten victims. Only one agreed to be interviewed. Here is his story.

"I sleep with my lights on and I no longer eat nuts," he said quietly. Such was the extent of the damage and everlasting fear. 'Not hatred' he was quick to add, but 'fear'.

Mr X, the son of a prominent businessman was snatched by four gun-toting men late in the afternoon. X was in the middle of the backseat, sandwiched between two men with guns. They drove off but stopped a short distance away to tie his hands and put him in the trunk. His hands were tied with cutlass wire.

X struggled and two of the men started to beat and kick him into the trunk. One of them rammed his boot into his back so hard that he thought he fractured or broke something. He buckled and fell inside. He was in excruciating and intense pain. To this day, X still suffers from severe back pains. His abductors took him to an apartment where he spent the night in a daze, worried about his family.

The next morning X was fed bread and cheese and allowed to use the washroom. ('I took that for granted' he mused.) His hands were still tied and one of the men assisted by pulling down his pants and briefs for him. Two of the men wore masks but he could see the faces of the other two plainly. X asked if his hands could be freed so that he could wipe himself but there was no response. The man simply pulled up his brief and jeans and escorted him back to his room.

Cell phones started ringing and he could hear one of the men taking directions. X heard him curse and raise his voice, asking the caller if he was certain that this plan would work. One hour later, his room door was opened and he was greeted by an unforgettable sight: his four abductors were all dressed as soldiers, in full army camouflage uniforms. X was bundled into the trunk but 45 minutes later they switched vehicles.

X was blindfolded and placed inside 'a sort of barrel' in the back of what seemed like a truck. There were holes at the top to allow air in so he could breathe but it was a bumpy ride and his hands were cramping. About three hours later X was taken out of his container and led along a track up some hills into the bush. One of the men called someone to tell them that they had arrived. X heard him say that the plan had worked well as 'police eh stop we'. He concluded that army uniforms were used to avoid police searches at roadblocks and recognized that his kidnappers were no fools.

They walked for about an hour until someone said 'this is the spot'. X's hands untied and he was allowed to pee. Still blindfolded, he was led into what seemed like a cave or some dark hole. His hands were tied behind his back around what seemed like a tree trunk or a rough, broad wooden post. His blindfold was removed and a crocus bag placed over his head with strings at the base that were pulled around his neck and tied. The bag smelled but he could breathe.

The men left X in this 'cave' in total darkness. X stayed awake all night. He could hear the noises of animals and was worried that if he fell asleep a snake might crawl up and bite him. He was afraid of snakes. He eventually fell asleep thinking about how worried his mother must be. X woke up and assumed that it was daytime. The place was still dark and the crocus bag was still on his head.

X could feel his bowels churning and wanted to go through his morning routine which started with a visit to the washroom. He assumed that someone will come to facilitate this and waited. His patience paid off as he eventually heard voices. The crocus bag was loosened and lifted just above his nose but no higher. He was fed some bread with butter and given some water. He tried to engage the men in conversation to see if he could talk his way out of captivity. He told them his father suffered a heart attack after he was snatched and would die soon and begged them to release him. The reply was 'well he better pay de (expletive) money before he dead or else you goh meet him up dey'.

The men started pulling the crocus bag back down and X asked if he could be allowed to defecate and piss. He collected a slap and was asked 'yuh tink dis ah (expletive) hotel O wat?' They then left. The food X ate put pressure on his bowels. He held out for as long as possible but eventually yielded to the pangs of nature. He defecated and urinated in his pants on himself. Indeed, he did so for two or three days.

X's arms felt as if they were collapsing. He wished he had no hands so that he could not be tied like that. He was thirsty and longed for some more water as he was accustomed to drinking a lot of water. No one visited until the following morning when X was awakened by a kick and voice saying 'like yuh (expletive) shit down de place!'

The bag was removed and X was fed crix biscuits. He gobbled them gratefully from the hands of his captors. He asked for some water but was told that they had forgotten it. They left without allowing him to clean up.

X started to feel weak and depressed. He became disoriented, frustrated and depressed. He was dehydrated and forced to dwell in his own filth. The crocus bag made him wonder how blind people felt and he resolved to visit them if he ever escaped. He had lost count of the days and nights and was fast losing hope. His resistance to prayer (he was never religious) went and he eventually relied on Psalm 23.

Two days later, two men visited a weak, hungry, insect-bitten and extremely thirsty X. They beat him badly 'for no reason at all'. The crocus bag was raised above his nose and he was again fed crix. Whilst feeding him they talked about how many people they had murdered. He finished eating and as the bag was being lowered, he begged for something to drink. He was ignored and it was tied. He started cursing the men, telling them he was dying of thirst and needed something to drink. They ignored him and left. X thought he would die.

Later on that day, some men visited X. He was slapped and told that his father wanted to speak with him and that he'd better tell him to pay the ransom. A flicker of hope. X said he was not talking to anyone unless he got something to drink and cleaned up. One of the men said 'look open yuh mouth and drink this'. X felt a warm burst of liquid on the bag. It tasted funny, but he couldn't care less. It stopped and one of the men laughed and said 'like he like de (expletive) piss, boy!'

X realized that he had just been made to drink one of the men's urine. Truth be told, (as he later confessed), he'd realized this sometime before but he managed to stop his mind from completing the inchoate thought so that he could drink some liquid before he died of dehydration. Totally humiliated, he cursed the men, saying he will tell his father not to pay any (expletive) money.

The men jumped up and removed the crocus bag from X's head. He looked up and saw three men. They looked like the Bobo Shanti rastas that he would but nuts from by traffic lights along the highway. He was slapped, kicked and cuffed all over his head. X drifted away, barely semi-conscious. One of the men held his mouth in his hands and ordered him to open his mouth. He refused, not because he didn't want to but because he was delirious and his brain was taking far too long to process what was said. The man pulled down his pants, forced his mouth open and pissed into it. X gagged but swallowed. (X had originally said he spat it out but later confessed that he drank it).

X was taken to the top of a hill where reception was available and he was allowed to speak to his father. He tried to be strong and told him he was fine because he knew that the quiver in his voice would convey the message. Once he had finished speaking with his father the crocus bag was placed on his head and he was taken somewhere where his hands were untied and water was dashed onto him. He was not allowed to take his clothes off but he was able to wash himself.

Two days later, X was moved to a different location. He was now held captive in a shack. He was handcuffed but felt a lot better as he had a sort of makeshift bed and was fed bread and butter. New men guarded him. There were two of them. They chatted about his father trusting the police too much and quarreled about the fact that they (the police), were getting paid even though they took no risks.

The following night X was awakened and beaten for snoring. He butted one of the men and was stripped and made to lie on the floor. His back was used as an ashtray as cigarette butts were extinguished on his back and buttocks. The men were drinking and smoking weed. He was made to lie on the floor all night with their boots on his back. They spoke openly about their previous kidnappings and other illegal exploits and mentioned that the police had told 'de boss' that X's father was trying to raise the ransom money. X fell asleep on the floor.

These two men stayed with X for the next three days. One would sometimes leave to fetch food, weed, alcohol and cigarettes. One night, the remaining man opened the door to X's room and slapped him awake. He put a gun to X's head and forced him to perform oral sex on him. X thought about biting the man's penis off but thought he was so high and intoxicated that his finger might actually pull the trigger. Dehumanized, fearing for his life and stripped of all dignity, X did as he was told.

X was slowly accepting his fate: there was no escape and he had to surrender. He subjected himself, co-operated and lived only in his mind for his thoughts was the one thing they could not control. X was released one week later after a negotiated ransom was paid. His father told him that he suspected that the police might have been involved with his kidnappers and urged him to forget the entire thing and move on as he had arranged to send him abroad. He has never told his true story to anyone and no one will ever understand why, even though he is miles away, he still sleeps with the lights on and refuses to eat nuts.