The frightening two-day ordeal of kidnap victim, former UDP Minister of Government/Freetown area representative, Derek Aikman, 47, fondly known to family, friends and supporters as “Mi D,” has come to a happy end.
Although the Police Department had announced that it had its best officers and all its experts following every lead and searching for any clue to his whereabouts, Aikman, blindfolded and partially immobilized with duct tape, ended up being found by motorists. He was spotted hopping on the roadside between Miles 23-24 on the Western Highway around 11:00 p.m. on Tuesday night, May 29
It fell to an employee of Youth for the Future, Wellington Thomas, to perform the actual rescue, since the motorists reportedly were afraid to stop to render aid. The newspaper must consider Mr. Thomas a quiet and unassuming hero in this matter.
Aikman was kidnapped on Sunday evening on the Burrell Boom/Hattieville Road by three masked men. He was missing for exactly 50 hours and 30 minutes.
Although a Wednesday police report said that “Police, acting upon information received, sometime around 11 p.m., visited an area between Miles 23 and 24 on the Western Highway where Mr. Derek Aikman was found safe and alive,” this report has been disputed.
Amandala today spoke with Thomas, who said that it was he who found Aikman at that location and took him to the Hattieville Police Station, because his vehicle did not have enough gasoline to take him any further, to Belize City.
Thomas said that sometime around 11:00, he was at a wake that was being held near Mile 21 on the Western Highway when a man in a dark-colored SUV pulled up at the wake and told him and a group of his friends that he had seen a man duct-taped a little way up the road.
Thomas said that he asked the man, whose name he did not get, why he did not pick up the man or try to assist him in some way, but the man said that he was afraid that he was going to be ambushed.
The man asked them if they had a gun, and the men told him no. So the motorist left. There was an off-duty policeman at the wake, but even he refused to investigate the report, said Thomas.
Thomas and one of his friends then jumped into a car and headed up the road, toward Belmopan. Somewhere near Mile 23, on the right hand side of the road, they saw a man hopping. He was very near to the edge of the road, and he was duct-taped from his head to a little past his waist, confining him to small movements because the upper part of his legs were taped tightly.
When the vehicle neared the person, you could see him making frantic, fearful movements, said Thomas. When they got out of the car, they told him that they had come to help him and took the tape off his mouth – even his eyes were covered, but his nose was uncovered, enabling him to breathe.
Thomas had heard about a man being missing, but he had never even seen a photograph of Aikman and did not know who he was. It is 15 years since Derek Aikman plunged into political obscurity following a sensational career from 1983 to 1992. As the tape was removed, they could see that the victim was not breathing well. They knew that he needed medical assistance, but because of the way in which he was found, this was clearly a case for the police, said Thomas, so they decided to take him to the City.
When they discovered that they were short on gas, however, they decided to take Aikman to the Hattieville Police Station.
When they got there and took Aikman out of the vehicle, he was very weak.
Thomas said that they were asked to give statements as to how they found Aikman, and he felt very proud to sit and tell them every detail, realizing that he had saved a man’s life. They later visited Aikman at Belize Medical Associates, but were not allowed to see him, said Thomas. He just wanted to know that the man was safe.
Police later brought Aikman to Belize Medical Associates (BMA), where he was rushed into ward. Aikman is a diabetic and has a thyroid problem, for which he has to take medication every day. Being missing for almost two days, he was in dire need of his medication.
(For more information on this article, see the headline, “Derek Aikman kidnapped!” of the #2147 Wednesday issue of the Amandala dated, May 30, 2007.)
Aikman has not spoken as yet to the media, but has given a statement to police. The police, for their part, have not released any additional information on the kidnapping, but are seeking the driver of the SUV to question him. Latest television reports are that Derek Aikman was questioned by police for four hours yesterday, then allowed to go home. Additional reports say that police have asked him not to talk to the media.
Just about an hour before Aikman was found, a candlelight vigil, praying for his safe return, was held at the Battlefield Park in Belize City.