[ad_1]
An Upstate New York woman who was kidnapped, smuggled to Quebec and held in a cottage for two days told a jury Tuesday that she is still living with the consequences of her September 2020 abduction.
Sandra Helm testified in the trial of Gary Arnold, a Quebec man charged in a conspiracy to kidnap Helm and her late husband, James, over a debt owed to her grandson. Arnold, 54, of Godmanchester, Que., faces seven charges, including kidnapping, extortion and conspiracy.
Courts have heard that the abduction of the couple in their 70s was linked to a botched cocaine deal involving their granddaughter Mackenzie Helm, who had been jailed six days earlier in Vermont with 50 kilograms of cocaine.
Sandra Helm identified Arnold as one of two men who broke into her home in Moira, NY, on September 27, 2020. She said her husband was sleeping on Sunday when two men kicked in the door and ordered the couple to go to bed. dress up
They were taken from their homes and transported to Quebec through Mohawk territory in Akwesasne, before being taken to Magog, Que., about 125 kilometers southeast of Montreal.
Helm said it was mostly kept in the basement of the cottage, with his wife occasionally allowed to smoke outside. He told the court that although his captors had assured him that he and his wife would be taken on a boat to return to New York, he did not think they would be released.
“I really didn’t think we were going to go home.… I couldn’t believe that after seeing him, he would just let us go,” he said. “We saw his face.”
As the kidnappers moved to the vehicle, the police tactical unit moved in to free the couple. Helm said he collapsed in the commotion and was scared, but a heavily armed officer ensured he was saved.
Even now, more than two years later, Helm says she’s afraid to go out after dark and worries about being alone.
“I was so scared that someone would break into the house again,” he said. She said she used two-by-fours to block the front and back doors so they couldn’t be kicked in and had installed security cameras around her rural home.
Later Tuesday, the son of Michael Helm, who reported his parents missing to the New York State Police, told the court about several phone calls he received from his parents’ abductors.
Jurors heard a police recording of the conversation, in which the kidnappers demanded that he hand over the missing 50 kilograms of cocaine, $3.5 million or his nephew, Mackenzie Helm.
Michael Helm said his parents had raised Mackenzie since he was a baby, but they didn’t know about drugs and property theft.
On Monday, the jury learned that James Helm died in 2021, and they heard a video statement given from a hospital in Sherbrooke, Que., to investigators with Quebec provincial police, the FBI and the New York State Police.
After presenting 13 witnesses and a wealth of wiretap, text and phone message evidence, the Crown rested on Tuesday. The trial continues on Thursday, when the defense will make its case to the jury.
[ad_2]
Source link