Kidnapped for Life

‘I was stripped of all my dignity,’ she said quietly. Hands covering her face, she recounted the details of her kidnapping. She had come to see me because she read my columns and felt that I would understand and ‘feel’ her pain. She wanted to tell me her about her experience.

Kidnapping is so organized that there are several groups involved, with each one performing a specific duty. Team A , the abduction team, snatched the victim. Team A handed her over to Team B (the transportation team) at an undisclosed location that was only made known to it after a few calls from someone who gave careful, specific directions.

Team A did not know where Team B was taking her, just in case the police managed to arrest anyone from Team A. Team B was responsible for transporting the victim to the hiding spot and handing her over to Team C (the guard team) which was responsible for taking her to the place where she would be imprisoned until the negotiations for payment of a ransom were successfully concluded. Team B did not know where Team C was actually taking her to detain her.

Team D separately contacted the family to negotiate the ransom. Team E visited the family in full religious wear to say that its organization could find her for a fee and that the police were a waste because they were probably in cahoots with team D. Who do you trust? Negotiation calls are made to distant friends to evade tapped telephone lines.

Whilst in captivity, one of her guards (X) tried to reassure her that everything would be alright; once the ransom was paid she would be released unharmed. She cried constantly and could not eat. After three days, she became weak. She decided to keep herself alive because she was able to hear her husband’s voice on the cell phone and he told her he was going to pay the ransom. Hope and tears freely mingled in her bosom.

Later that night, the guards changed shift. A new set of men came. They played cards and drank heavily. She fell asleep but was awakened by a hand on her leg. She slapped it off and collected a slap. Wide awake, she looked up and saw all three of her guards staring at her in their briefs alone. She struggled but was overpowered and they took turns raping her. They had their way all night, invading and brutalizing her while their fantasies and her worst nightmare became a reality.

At some point, her body became numb and lifeless, paralyzed by the humiliation. The next morning she was kicked and told to ‘wash off properly’. She heard them discussing the possibility of testing for DNA with sperm and mechanically washed in front of them. She could not cry anymore. She had probably run out of tears.

Later that evening the shift changed. She was slapped and warned not to say anything before the rapists left. She was repeatedly raped by the same shift over the next week and eventually confided in one of the guards (X) from the other shift. He was most upset and said that was ‘not part of the plan’. He promised to inform the ‘bossman’ about her plight.

The shift did not change that evening so she was not raped. Instead, X allowed her to speak with her family who indicated that they were going to drop off the money the following morning. She was blindfolded and released. She did not tell anyone about the rapes. They were all so relieved to have her back she couldn’t bear to tell them that the ransom money was all in vain. She wanted to scream and tell them they had kidnapped her soul.

Two weeks later, after much thinking, she flew to a neighbouring Caribbean island and paid a secret visit to a doctor. Her worst fears were confirmed: she was pregnant. She had an abortion and returned home. Not wanting to tell her husband what had happened or risk infecting him with some unknown STD, she refused to be intimate with him. ‘I was still kidnapped even after my release. They kidnapped part of me for life,’ she said.

She eventually confronted her demons and went back for an HIV test. She did not indicate what the result was and I did not ask. She said she was living against her own will because she did not to disappoint those who had sacrificed so much to have her back. No one has been arrested in connection with her kidnapping to date.