Dick refuses to be filmed by Australian Story, to my relief, and then welcomes us into his office. It’s full of books, photographs, maps and beautiful Australian wood carvings. His desk is a giant polished piece of raw-cut tree trunk. Almost straight after greeting us he says, ‘Don’t worry about money; I’ll take care of all costs.’
My eyes start to well up, and Nic and I both say that no, we can’t accept that. He tells us he has spoken with JC at length and wants this case done like an insurance job, that is, like we have unlimited funds. Nic and I tell Dick exactly how much money we have so far, and about our plan to pay all the AKE costs, with the Canadians’ help. Dick says he will fund the shortfall once all bills are in. So if we need a hundred thousand, then it will be a hundred thousand, but if we need a million dollars, he will give us a million.
Nic and I fairly glide out of this meeting, unaware of anything apart from feelings of overwhelming gratitude to this wonderful man.
We even forget that the Australian Story people are at the top of the driveway waiting for us. We do a quick interview through our car window then head into the city. Once we’ve checked into our hotel, we head to our next meeting, with AFP and DFAT.
Our meeting is very interesting. James revisits the legal implications of the family paying a ransom, and again I ask James if he will send me to jail and freeze the assets of the family if we pay the money. I get the same response as last time: we cannot confirm that the gang holding Nigel is in any way related to Al-Shabaab; we believe that they are criminals seeking money, not political gain. Decrypting this statement, which we’ve heard a few times now, I start to think this is the clause that will get me off a charge, or at least will mean that any charge will be hard to make stick. I really need to discuss this with Clayton Utz tomorrow. If I can take control of the money situation that is so vitally important to the whole case, it is one less thing for Nic to worry about. If Nic is the lead negotiator, I am now the money launderer.
The rest of the meeting is a fishing exercise: DFAT and the AFP are after information from us. Nic and I have the upper hand this time, and we don’t give much away. What we want from this meeting are further details about how the government would repatriate Nigel from Nairobi to Australia. DFAT goes over it: as soon as Nigel lands in Nairobi from Somalia, he will be passed into the hands of the Australian government. They will arrange his medical checks and flight home.
The government has also agreed to fly two family members to Nairobi to be there when Nigel gets out. James asks if Nicky will be one of those family members. I see him turn pale when Nic tells him Heather and Geoff will be going. I think James is scared of Heather and secretly wants Nic there as a buffer. Nic picks up on this and asks for a third ticket for her. James says that ‘a third ticket has not been accounted for’, but I have a feeling he will change his mind.
JC is pretty happy with a lot of this and thinks we can pick out some pretty important and cost-saving extras. Jon and Lorinda arm themselves with this information to take to their government to ask for the same consular assistance.
At the beginning of September, I’d met up with an old uni friend. Helen has had a lot to do with the Jane McGrath Foundation and gave me some fantastic tips on how to set up a tax-deductible foundation to which our supporters could donate money. She gave me the names of some law firms she thought could help us with pro bono advice. I called Clayton Utz, which not only agreed to help us with pro bono advice on the foundation but offered free legal advice on some of the rules we were breaking regarding the payment of ransoms. They also have an international contact who has said they will advise the Canadians pro bono as well.
I feel I have kicked a huge goal. Neither we nor the Canadians will need to pay for valuable legal advice, so we can keep as much money as possible in the ransom kitty. Nic and I will meet with Clayton Utz tomorrow.
Nigel
The Bush House
Sunday, 11 October
In the evening the boys go back and forth from Amanda’s room. It’s not long before I hear her voice as she takes a phone call.
‘Mummy,’ she says, causing my skin to prickle as the memory of the last conversation to her mother comes flooding back. ‘Okay, listen, listen, last month when I talked to you, you said you had half a million, right?’ I’m surprised at how calm and coherent she sounds. ‘Can you hear me? Okay, so you had half a million, now listen, if, if that money is for me and, like, for me only and you’re ready to pay it, then they will accept that, that half a million for me and release me.’ I’m hit with giddiness as anger and terror mushroom in my stomach at the thought that they will sell her – only her.
She continues. ‘Listen, Mum, Mum, listen. Any, any agreement or promises that you have with Nigel’s family, right now, ah, like we all love Nigel, but they have to be broken, because Nigel and I have been separated for nine months already, so it doesn’t make sense any more to negotiate together. Like, this is the only chance that we have, they will take half a million for me now, but this is like the only chance that we have, Mum.’
I don’t think that I have ever felt so lonely and cheated in my life. She is going to leave me here. We all have a built-in survival mechanism but I can barely contain my anger. Maybe she’s got a gun to her head. I can’t hear what Lorinda is saying to her; she’ll jump at the chance to free her child, especially after their last conversation, won’t she? I’m trying to get clues from what Amanda is saying.
‘Our family, us, you and me, we have a chance for me, for me only to be released, but for me only, Mum, so you have to break any kind of commitment that you have with Nigel’s family, because I know that Nigel’s family have said they have more than a million dollars.’
I feel like I’ve just been struck between the eyes with a cricket bat. She’s not following any script; no one’s forcing her to say this. I feel like a complete fool. What has she told them about my family’s financial situation? Has she been angling for this for a while? I sit there and listen, trying to make sense of it all.
‘Nigel’s family have said to these people that they have more money than that, so, just a second, just a sec, if you can agree to pay five hundred for me, for me only, I will be released tomorrow. If you could pay that money for me, today, I would be released today.’
I could be alone here tomorrow.
‘Mum, can you call me right back? Can you try calling me back on this number, okay?’ she says. The silence is now deafening. Then I hear Romeo’s voice. I’m desperate to hear what he is now saying to her but it’s useless as their voices are hushed and muffled. The phone rings. Amanda answers.
‘Hi, Mum, Mum … Mum … Mum, if you —’ but then she suddenly stops. Has the phone been disconnected again?
I’m jolted back as I hear her say, ‘Is there anybody, what …?’, then a short pause before she continues. ‘Yeah, I’m with, I’m with a few people here. I am with one man who is the reason that we have this chance; he has been the only person here who has been kind to me and I trust him and he has persuaded the other commanders to give this chance for us, for our family, to pay five hundred for me … one chance, Mum.’ It’s horrible to listen to this, to hear her say it so easily, as if I mean nothing to her.
Something in my gut, though, tells me that things have seriously gone awry; for so long she has been their target, to now suddenly change doesn’t fit.
‘What,’ she says sounding flat, obviously listening to her mother before continuing, ‘Mum, but Mum.’ She’s trying to reason with her.
Amanda then says, ‘He is one of a few people who are in charge, Mum, this is what, this is what you have to understand, okay? Nigel and I are not together. Nigel and I have been separated for quite, quite a while. I don’t know what’s going on with Nigel and me, but you guys are working together, but that sort, that sort of commitment to work together, now has, has to finish. This money, Mum, Nigel’s, Nigel’s family has said that they have more money than that, they have more than, I’ve heard 1.3 milli
on dollars.’
I told her this via our code in the Qur’an after I’d spoken with Nicky. This is both our families’ money. I’m furious with myself for trusting her.
She’s now desperately trying to talk her mother around. ‘Wait, but Mum, Mum, Mumma, Mumma, this can only be, this money can only be, this one chance we have, we have one chance, okay, for, for you to pay half a million dollars for me and what they’re telling me is if you don’t take this chance, if you don’t agree to that, then the money for me which they have been asking for, which is one million, it’s going to go back to that and even beyond that. It could be more than one million if you don’t accept that.’
It’s like listening to a broken record. I sense her frustration as her mother doesn’t bite. She continues pleading, sounding like a spoilt child who’s about to have a tantrum.
I can understand her wanting to get away from these people but I can’t believe she’s doing this after all we have been through. We have been stuck together all this time; we made a pact not to leave our three Somali colleagues and now it’s just us. Something’s changed her mind obviously. My bitterness starts to eat away at me.
‘What you’re saying to me is that there is no more money than that, that there’s no 1.3 million dollars or one million dollars, there’s nothing. You’re saying that there is only five hundred and that is for both of us,’ she states, making it clear to the boys in her room what the circumstances are. As though not believing what she is being told, she again asks for clarification: ‘And you’re saying that Nigel’s family has not said that, because everyone here is under the impression that there’s far more money than that.’
I know this is my fault. I must have got things confused when I spoke to Nicky. Amanda’s arsenal is empty, her powers of persuasion useless. She says, ‘Okay, Mum, then I have to get off the phone. You can try and call me back tomorrow at the same time if you have any more information.’
Lying there, I feel like the skipper on a mutinous ship, although I’m relieved beyond words that Lorinda has refused to deal and the boys haven’t got what they wanted. It’s another sleepless night as Amanda’s words play over and over in my head. I waver between disgust and pity for what she has done. My insecurity gets the better of me as I try to second-guess where things will go from here. The chattering monkeys in my head are unrelenting; it’s like I can’t hold any thought for more than a few seconds.
One of the boys parks himself outside my door. He’s taped the conversation and now sadistically replays it just for me. To again hear Amanda sounding coherent and composed, telling her mother to pay just for her is soul-destroying.
But I know she must be desperate as she has suffered far more than I have. My compassionate side is telling me to forgive her as she is only doing what human instinct tells us to – survive.
Nicky
Sydney
Monday, 12 October
Kel and I are in Sydney for an epic meeting fest with lawyers, DFAT and a PR company. But it’s preceded by some news. Lorinda has spoken to Amanda and it’s a shocking phone call.
All of this went down while we were asleep, so JC gives Kel and me a summary of the night’s proceedings. Amanda has been given an out: if Lorinda can pay half a million dollars to the HTs, they’ll release her. Fragments of the conversation clang inside my head.
Lorinda is saying over and over again, ‘Amanda, this money has been raised by both our families.’ How much does Lorinda wish she had been fundraising from the word go and that the money was in her account? Amanda says to Lorinda, ‘I am talking to you frankly now; no one is forcing me to say this. Nigel and I have been separated nine months ago. Now our family – us, you and me – have a chance for me only to be released. You have to break any kind of commitment that you have with Nigel’s family because I know that Nigel’s family has more.’
It’s got to be horrific for Amanda. She desperate, I understand that. I recognise the pleading in her voice, but all I can hear is the what-about-me attitude.
‘Amanda,’ says Lorinda, ‘there is no separate amount from Canada and from Australia. It has been raised together for both of you by both families.’ If I were Lorinda, there would be a part of me that wanted to take the money and run. I feel relieved all the ransom money is still in a bank account here in Australia. Logical brain tells me this is exactly the kind of ploy that kidnappers use to divide and conquer. Emotional brain is finding it all pretty tough going.
I can’t get the conversation out of my head while I’m trying to talk to Adan. It turns out to be very uneventful in comparison. There are now apparently four factions with two particularly nasty characters who want a cut each on top of the ransom money. Adan thinks if he can split a fraction of the payment between these two gang members they might agree to a deal. He’s not terribly clear on the detail, and it’s all pretty confusing.
Kel and I set up for a call with Adan, Lorinda, Amanda and me to sort this money-from-two-different-sources situation out hopefully, finally.
Adan puts Amanda on pretty quickly and we are able to get through to her that the US$548K offer is from both the families for both of them. There is no other amount – certainly not 1.3 mill. Amanda says she thinks she can get this point across to the HTs then she’s cut off. Adan goes on to say he thinks he can get the gang to agree to US$548K but we’ll need an extra US$300K on top of that – US$150K each to the difficult gang members. It must be done quickly and he is the only one who can do this deal. We thank him for this but explain that we don’t have any more money; we can’t raise this extra money quickly, if at all.
What this means for us is that the new offer comes to US$848K, and if the gang has agreed to this, they will surely be putting pressure on Adan to get it sorted. Even though there are probably divisions within the gang, we are pretty sure some if not all of this extra money is going to line Adan’s pockets. We consider the option of offering a little bit on top with the promise of sending more when we have raised it after they are out. Adan may come at this due to the time constraints that the gang are surely putting him under.
There’s not even time to dwell on any of this as we have to meet the Clayton Utz people.
Kellie
Sydney
Monday, 12-Tuesday, 13 October
Nic and I head to the offices of Clayton Utz, the lawyers, again with Australian Story in tow. They don’t really get in the way; it’s just having to walk down the same street five times that gets a bit tedious. Today we are getting legal advice about the ransom payment. I find out the jail term for paying the ransom amount is twenty-five years to life, and that I will be breaking both commonwealth and international laws regarding terrorist activities.
I inhale and hold my breath. Is it really worth it? I am unconsciously shaking my head as I think this, over and over. I exhale quite loudly and exclaim, ‘Bloody Nigel!’
More good advice has come from my gorgeous friend Helen – we’re going to need help with the public relations and media side of things. First, none of us wants a media circus at the end of all of this like we had at the start. Second, we need to go public to raise more money, so having a PR group to manage this would be handy. Third, because Nigel is going to owe bucketloads of money, if he wants to make anything from his story, everything needs to be managed properly. Back in September I started contacting PR firms to arrange some meetings.
We meet with people from one company, Kreab Gavin Anderson, on the same day as the lawyers. They’re located in an old wool store in Pyrmont. I grab hold of the door handle, a big brass ram’s horn. In the foyer is an old wool press and a statue of sheep going down the shoot. I have a really good feeling before I’ve even met anyone – I like the agricultural feel here.
Brian Tyson, the managing director, introduces himself. I tell him Nigel’s story and what I am hoping to achieve by having a PR group manage things. I also explain that we have to factor in the family in Canada: we would need pro bono work from the KGA Canadian office as well. I
t’s a big ask but I put everything on the table; I have nothing to lose. What’s the worst they can say? No?
Brian listens intently. He explains to me that they do a lot of work with the government and can’t help us if we bash the government in public. I completely understand and reassure him that I can keep the family under control. I have my fingers crossed under the table. Brian tells me that if I can stop the family from talking to the press, stop them from publicly discussing their unhappiness with the government, then he can definitely take us on pro bono. This is such great news that I feel I don’t need to see the other company I’ve approached, but the decision about who to go with is not mine alone. I need to put all the options available to the family on the table. I can tell them which one I like better, or feel we should go with, but the final decision needs to be majority rule.
I head over to North Sydney for my next meeting and I can tell instantly that this group is much bigger and more media orientated than KGA. The meeting is completely different. I plead my case and again the company says yes, they will help pro bono, but this time there is a lot more talk of magazine deals, news reports, getting the story into the media to raise its profile so Nige can make more money when he gets out. I don’t feel as comfortable with this group as I did with KGA – this one feels very commercial, and very experienced, but I sense the family would not feel as good about being subjected to so much media coverage when some of them are still struggling with the idea of Australian Story.
I head home loaded up with all this information, while secretly wanting to task KGA straightaway. But I do the right thing and put all points together in an email and send it off for the rest of the family to discuss and decide. It’s been an exhausting day, and I am happy to put my head on the pillow as I need to be up at six for our CMT meeting. I will give Jon and Lorinda the good news that both companies are able to provide pro bono support for them as well.
The Price of Life Page 32