Lindhout testifies at sentencing

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 self-loathing.

“I was a young woman wanting to rebuild my life,” Lindhout said. “But the abuse had made me hate myself.”

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.

Lindhout, raised in Red Deer, and photographer Nigel Brennan of Australia were snatched by armed men 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-publishing deal, leading to his arrest in Ottawa in June 2015. He acknowledged to undercover officers that he had received $10,000 for his role in the kidnapping.