BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE kidnapping case of Gilda Vaughan and her husband Larry Vaughan began yesterday (Jan. 29) at the Basseterre High Court.
The prosecution team led by Acting Director of Public Prosecution Rhonda Nisbett-Browne alleges that on October 28, 2011, Jahmana Walters, Ali Percival, Claton Laws and Jermaine Riley, while armed, took the couple out their home and demanded a sum of money from them.
The men also allegedly took Gilda to a location where she was confined against her will.
She was the first witness to take the stand and told the Court that she is a Clinical Instructor at Ross University and resides at Sea View Gardens with her husband and three children.
Gilda said she was in her living room sitting on a couch setting her hair and she fell asleep.
She told the Court that the door was open, as usual, and when she awoke she saw a shadow in the yard which she first thought it was that of her husband.
Gilda said two men rushed through the door and she screamed, but was subsequently pushed down on the couch.
She told the Court that her husband was awaken and for approximately three to four hours the men were asking him about getting money from the vault of the First Caribbean International Bank where he is employed.
Gilda said they told her husband he had to help them get the money, but he told them that he was not one of the persons who had access to the vault.
The witness said one of the men told her that they knew who her father was and demanded that her husband get US$200 000 from him in order for her to be free.
Finally, the Vaughans, along with two men, left the home in the husband’s vehicle and they put him out on the Kim Collins Highway, while his wife was taken to an unoccupied house at the junction of East Park Range and Park Street opposite the building that houses the National Housing Corporation.
In a release during the time of the kidnapping, members of the police force had launched both covert and overt operations and finally succeeded in finding Gilda sometime before 5:00 a.m. on October 29, 2011.
Two men were said to have been arrested at the home where she was kept, and their alleged accomplices were also arrested following investigations.
Gilda told the Court that she did not see any of the men’s face, as they wore masks and that she was blindfolded whilst held in captivity.
She said when she was rescued, one of the men was in police custody at the home but she did not see his face.
The case continued today (Jan. 30) and the prosecution was expected to call 13 witnesses, while the four men are self-represented.
