Ex-Jamaat leader to apologise to former NAR minister

FORMER Government minister Jennifer Johnson will receive a public apology from a member of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen for the trauma she underwent at the Red House during the 1990 attempted coup. After agreeing to a consent order, Bilaal Abdullah, also known as Richard Bradshaw, was yesterday ordered by Justice Humphrey Stollmeyer to apologise to Johnson for his actions and that of his accomplices on July 27 to August 1, 1990. It was during this period that Johnson and others were held against their will in the Parliamentary Chamber by armed members of the Jamaat, who had been led in an unlawful insurrection by Abdullah.

Abdullah was also ordered to pay cost. The apology, which is to be given by April 30, must be published for one day of two consecutive weeks in the three daily newspapers. It will also be aired once on a weekday between 6 am and 10  am on a radio station to be agreed upon. Johnson had filed a personal action against Abdullah and two other members of the Jamaat, seeking damages for false imprisonment, aggravation, assault and nervous shock. The proceedings against the other two men were subsequently discontinued. When the matter came up before Stollmeyer at the Port-of-Spain First Civil Court yesterday, Johnson indicated that all she wanted was an apology from Abdullah, and to have him pay cost.

According to the statement of claim filed by Johnson, while she was held as a hostage at the Red House on the days in question, Abdullah and his “servants” pointed guns at her face and threatened to shoot her if she moved from where they had placed her. She said they forced her to crawl on her hands and knees and subjected her to humiliation and disgrace by videotaping the proceedings in the Parliamentary Chamber to later broadcast on television.

Johnson claimed Abdullah and his cohorts tied her hands with strips of plastic and prevented her from using the toilet facilities. She said she was not given anything to eat during the ordeal and she survived solely on small sips of coffee and tea. The former minister said she witnessed the beatings and eventual shooting of then prime minister Arthur Robinson and minister of national security Selwyn Richardson. Johnson was represented by attorneys Keith Scotland, Dawn Mohan and Gregory Armorer. Abdullah appeared on his own behalf.