Kidnap victim relives ordeal as trial begins

A woman yesterday recalled to a jury in San Fernando how she was dragged into a car on being kidnapped near her Coora Road, Siparia home back in 2007. Lisa Straker was 24 at the time she was kidnapped. Straker testified that she was forced into the vehicle and taken to Murray Street in Siparia.

Michael Murray is on trial for kidnapping Straker. The matter is being heard before Justice Maria Wilson and a jury of nine in the San Fernando High Court. Yesterday, Straker testified how she was taken against her will by a man and later recognised the driver of the getaway as being the accused, Michael Murray.

The incident occurred on June, 21 2007 minutes after Straker left her Coora Road, Siparia home. She said that at about 8.30 pm, she was walking on the left side of the road when a white car pulled up alongside her, a man alighted from the vehicle, slapped her and dragged her inside the car which then sped off. “When he dragged me into the car, he pushed my head down. It was while inside the car, the driver turned around and I noticed his face,” Straker said she identified the driver as her neighbour, Michael Murray. The State was represented by attorneys Trevor Jones and Sara De Silva. Attorney Ainsley Lucky is representing the accused.