Woman gets 20 yrs in jail for kidnapping Indian-origin man

New York, Dec 20: A woman from Trinidad and Tobago has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in the 2005 kidnapping of an Indian-origin man who later died as the hostage scheme went awry.

Doreen Alexander, 47, was sentenced by US District Judge Emmet Sullivan yesterday for conspiring to kidnap Balram 'Balo' Maharaj who was Alexander's former boyfriend and the father of one of her sons.

Maharaj was a naturalised US citizen and Alexander had pleaded guilty in October this year in the conspiracy to commit hostage-taking. Alexander, the last charged co-conspirator involved in Maharaj's kidnapping, was also sentenced to serve five years of supervised release to follow her prison-term.

The other 12 co-conspirators were previously extradited and prosecuted by the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. According to court documents, Alexander initiated the April 2005 kidnapping of Maharaj and provided information that allowed the kidnappers to identify, locate and track Maharaj.

Alexander alerted the kidnappers to Maharaj's visits to Trinidad and Tobago, gave them information on his wealth, which was used to calculate the ransom and reassured the kidnappers that they had the right man after the ransom negotiations went awry. Maharaj died while being held hostage by the kidnappers.

PTI