15 months of captivity has left Lindhout broken
Amanda Lindhout says kidnapping inflicted emotional and physical scars
OTTAWA — Amanda Lindhout fought through tears Wednesday as she told a hushed courtroom how she suffers from crippling flashbacks and sometimes wakes up screaming, part of the emotional legacy of her 15-month kidnapping ordeal in Somalia.
Testifying at a sentencing hearing for convicted hostage-taker Ali Omar Ader, Lindhout said the sexual assault, beatings and emotional trauma she suffered in captivity filled her with pain and loathing.
“The abuse had made me hate myself,” she said.
Ader, a 40-year-old Somalian national, faces a potentially lengthy prison sentence after being convicted of hostage-taking late last year.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Smith ruled that Ader was a “willing participant” in the 2008 kidnapping of Lindhout, who was working as a freelance journalist near Mogadishu at the time.
The judge found little to believe in Ader’s testimony, saying it did not support his claim that he was forced into serving as a negotiator and translator on behalf of a gang who threatened to harm him and his family.
Samir Adam, one of Ader’s lawyers, said a sentence of 10 to 12 years in prison would be appropriate. The Crown is seeking a sentence of 15 to 18 years, and suggested the judge invoke a provision that would require Ader to serve half of his sentence before being eligible for parole.
Smith is scheduled to sentence Ader on June 18, almost a decade after the bleak events began to unfold.
Armed men snatched Lindhout, raised in Red Deer, Alta., and photographer Nigel Brennan of Australia while pursuing a story, the beginning of 15 months as hostages. Both were freed in November 2009 upon payment of a ransom.
Years after their release, the RCMP lured Ader to Canada on the pretext of signing a lucrative book deal, leading to his arrest in Ottawa in 2015. He acknowledged to undercover officers that he had received $10,000 for his role in the kidnapping.
As negotiator for the gang, Ader held many long-distance telephone conversations with Lindhout’s mother, Lorinda Stewart, who told him the family was selling possessions and scrambling to raise ransom money.
Prosecutor Croft Michaelson told the court Wednesday Ader was “casual and brutal” in his communications “and scoffed at their ransom offerings.”
At one point Lindhout was driven at night into the desert, where a knife was held to her throat. While Ader was not present, he helped the gang connect a phone call to Stewart so she could hear her daughter’s hysterical screams.
Ader read a statement expressing remorse, saying he was human and therefore flawed.
“I am sorry, I apologize and ask you for forgiveness,” he said, requesting freedom so he could care for his family in Somalia.