Jury hears of $170,000 ransom drop

A businesswoman told a jury yesterday how she had to put together and pay a $170,000 ransom to kidnappers for the return of her common-law husband, Henry Francis, of Sangre Grande. Elizabeth Monroe, who owns three jewelry shops, said after her husband’s kidnappers called her hours after abducting him on the night of June 9, 2002, demanding a ransom, she managed to put together $100,000 in cash and $75,000 in gold. The ransom was put into a black plastic bag and dropped off at the end of Spot Trace, Longdenville in Chaguanas, sometime after midnight on  June 12, 2002.

Francis was released later that morning and picked up at Santa Rosa Park, next to the old Neal and Massy building. He testified how he was blindfolded, gagged, beaten and a $500,000 ransom demand for his safe return. Francis said that he was forcefully pulled into a car at gunpoint and pistol-whipped on the forehead and face. He said a shot was fired at his leg in the car but missed. He was then blindfolded and taken to an unknown destination where he was gagged, hand and foot tied, kicked in the face, rolled up in what felt like a piece of carpet and transported during the kidnapping ordeal. After being released two days later, Francis, of Sagramsingh Drive in Sangre Grande, was shocked and disoriented.

When kidnapped, he came face to face with one of his five kidnappers who he recognised as a man from his village known as Chambers. Kellon John, aka Chambers, 29, of Sangre Grande, is before Justice Mark Mohammed in the Port-of-Spain Fifth Criminal Court, charged with kidnapping Francis on the night of June 9, 2002. He is being defended by attorney Rudy James while State attorney Bramananan Dubay is prosecuting. Monroe said since the night of her husband’s abduction, she received many calls from his kidnappers about a ransom. The kidnappers also contacted Francis’ brother, taxi-driver John Phillip, who had to make the ransom drop of cash and jewelry for the kidnappers. Phillip said he collected the bag with the ransom from Monroe’s home sometime around midnight on June 12, and headed in the direction of Port-of-Spain. He said every two to five minutes, the kidnappers would call him on his cellular phone and instruct him where to go. After he dropped off the ransom, he returned to his Cleaver Road, Arima home where he received a call telling him to pick up his brother at Santa Rosa Park.

He picked up Francis and took him to the Arima Hospital. Francis, he said, was badly beaten and bruised. Later that morning, Francis was discharged from the hospital and he gave police a statement in which he named Chambers as one of the kidnappers he had recognised, because he had known him from his village for over three years.  Both the State and the defence made their closing address to the jury yesterday and Justice Mohammed will sum up the case tomorrow.