Victim Tells of Daring Escape after Death Threats

Hall also told News Five by phone earlier today that despite being able to successfully foil the kidnapping attempt, his brother’s vehicle remains missing.  He says they were fortunate to have been able to jump out of the trunk of the car when the driver slowed down at a bump near Calcutta Village.

Voice of: Eder Hall, Kidnapping and Robbery Victim

“When we were being put inside they realized that three of us couldn’t fit inside so they put my brother and my worker in the trunk and they placed me on the backseat.  So, at that moment we were all tied up and at that time I was just waiting to expect the worse, you know, because they said, “Right now we are going to take you and dash you to the river.  We’ll take you to Libertad, kill you and dash you in the river.”  So what I did was, I just complied with whatever they said.  I didn’t want to make it harder for us, so I just followed everything that they told me.  At that moment, when the other persons got in my brother’s car they only had one gun.  It was the handgun.  But then they covered my face and then they started to drive off to the highway, from Ranchito going towards Libertad.  The one that was in the driver’s side, he saw that the trunk was open and then he came and told the other one to stop.  When the vehicle stopped, the one that was in the passenger side told the driver, “I am going to go and close the trunk.”  So when he got out of the car, I said it is now.  I had an opportunity because I was already loose.  So what I did is that I tried and grabbed back the gun from him and then I pulled the trigger to shoot the driver but it didn’t work.  It only snapped.  And then, at that moment the other one was going to come inside of the car.  The one that was in the passenger side, he was coming inside so what I did, I pointed the gun at him, cranked the gun again, but it snapped again.  It didn’t work.  I don’t know if maybe the safety was on or the bullets were not good, but it didn’t work.  So the other guy that was in the passenger side ran.  He ran outside to some nearby houses.  At this moment we were already by Calcutta because I had already uncovered my face and I had gotten untied, you know.  At that moment when I said to go back to the car, the driver sped off.  At that moment the trunk was closed and my brother and my worker were still in trunk.  So what I did was, I tried to run to the nearest persons that were around and I hurriedly called the police.  I ran to the Ministry of Public Works and some guys there led me into the fence and there was where I waited for the police to come.  From there on, afterwards I received information that my brother and my worker had jumped out of the vehicle by Calcutta.  There was a pedestrian ramp so the driver, I think, slowed down and that was where they jumped out.”

Isani Cayetano

“How much cash was on you and the number of jewelry that were taken?  What are we looking at?”

On the Phone: Eder Hall

“Almost fifteen thousand dollars, everything was worth.  I had my cell phone and everything, gold chain.  But they have already detained one person.  The driver that I pointed the gun at, they had already detained him last night.  They detained him at his house and they recovered some of my jewelry, my gold chain, my medal and my ring.”

News Five understands that Corozal Police are investigating the incident and several arrests have been made.