BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - AFTER some three hours of deliberation, an 11-member jury returned a guilty verdict for the men accused of kidnapping Larry Vaughan and his wife Gilda on October 28, 2011.
The jury was 12 in number but one juror had taken ill during the trial, but that did not affect the nine-woman-two-man members from returning an unanimous guilty verdict.
The men, Jahmana ‘Sky Juice’ Walters, Ali ‘Humble’ Percival, Clayton ‘Yellow’ Laws and Jermaine ‘Reckin’ Riley stood speechless in the prisoners’ box as the verdict was read.
His Lordship Justice Errol Thomas told the Acting Director of Public Prosecution, Rhonda Nisbett-Browne, that he wanted the sentencing to be quick and to have the necessary social inquiries done expeditiously.
The men, who were self-represented, have been on trial since Tuesday (Jan. 29) and the prosecutor had called 13 witnesses to support her claim.
The prosecutor has now proven that on October 28, 2011 the men came up with a plan to kidnap the Vaughans and demand a certain amount of money from them.
Two of the men entered the home sometime after 12:00 a.m. and met Gilda on a sofa in her living room while her husband Larry was asleep in their bedroom.
Larry told the Court that he was awaken by the men who were masked sometime after 2:00 a.m., questioned about his place of employment and whether he had access to get to the vault.
They first demanded $1M from the Vaughans but later told Larry that he would have to go to Gilda’s father and get US$200 000 after they learnt that he could not have access to the bank’s vault.
The men took the Vaughans out of their home, leaving their three children asleep, and drove on the FT Williams Highway and then onto the Kim Collins Highway.
It was further revealed that Gilda was taken to an unoccupied house on East Park Range, where she was kept until rescued by members of the Police and Defence Forces sometime before 5:00 a.m. on the following day.
Two of the men, Percival and Riley, were found in the house with a number of firearms and other items.
Percival told the Court that he received a call about a security job to guard the house and said that he told the person he would contact his brother when asked if he had “straps”.
Upon his arrest, Laws told the police that he was threatened and wanted to make a deal.
He told Constable Watt that someone threatened his daughter’s life because they wanted to use a jeep that was given to him to be fixed by Ross University Student Lauren Longley.
Longley, who is no longer on island, gave evidence that Laws informed her that the jeep was stolen and that they had driven around in search of it, which she later reported missing at the Frigate Bay Police Station.
Laws claimed that the person told him that the jeep was used to transport the “kidnapped lady” and he would get his cut.
Laws, in his statement, told the police that he did not want a cut.
Walters was also said to have driven the vehicle sometime between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. on the day the Vaughans were kidnapped, but claimed he had received a call to pick up some food for the other person while using the jeep.
In his statement to the lead investigator, Corporal Consie Rogers, Walters said he knew nothing of “the kidnap part”.
Walters, Percival, Laws and Riley all maintained their innocence throughout the trial, and during their address to the jury said there was no evidence stating that they were identified as the kidnappers.
After the Court had adjourned, the convicted men were taken by foot back to Her Majesty’s Prison where they will await their sentencing hearing.
