Sir ELLIS: WAS I BEING KIDNAPPED?

As he sat in the guard hut, thoughts of being kidnapped and held for ransom raced briefly through former President Sir Ellis Clarke’s mind, sources stated yesterday. As it turned out, however, Sir Ellis was no more than a bit player in the drama that unfolded on Saturday evening at Pine Grove Villas. The sources stressed that while former President Sir Ellis Clarke was a victim of an attack by bandits, he was not the target, sources close to the President stressed yesterday. The source said the impression given that Sir Ellis was under attack was not accurate and that the former President was a “minor player” in Saturday’s crime crisis.

Sir Ellis was on his way to attend a book launch on Nesta Patrick’s life at UWI on Saturday evening. On reaching the gate, he heard a voice coming from the guard hut saying “Stop! Come out of the car!” Taken by surprise, the former President thought there was something happening further down the road and that he was being warned not to go down there. He complied. It was only then he realised that these were armed men confronting him and “it was a question of banditry,” the source close to Sir Ellis stated. The men had crossed the river at the back of the gated community, got into the guard hut, overpowered the guard, tied him up and put him in the lavatory (located within the hut). The intruders, who had then taken control of the hut, ordered Sir Ellis into the guard hut where he was put to sit on the stool which the guard normally used.

While the former President sat in the hut, the bandits were brandishing their guns, terrorising the people of Pine Grove Villas. “There were people running into their houses, leaping out of the swimming pool and so on,” the source close to the former President said. “It would seem as if they (the bandits) had some idea to come to rob the different houses and plans must have gone wrong somehow, beginning with Sir Ellis going out. They didn’t know that Sir Ellis knew nothing about what was happening (as he was leaving). And they must have thought: stop him before he goes and reports this matter,” the source said. “All they doing is saying ‘don’t be a witness to what we are doing,’” the source added. By then they decided to flee and the car, which was at the gate, happened to be the Audi Sir Ellis was using.

It was not his car, but a car which Southern Sales had loaned him while his car was being repaired. “They just took the first available car and left,” the source said. “At the time though it was a very scary thing because you don’t know what they have in mind. When they are holding you there — (you’re thinking) are they kidnapping you? What is it all about?” the source said. The source added, “It was a traumatic experience (for Sir Ellis) but it was not one fraught with danger as things turned out.”