To Cry or not to Cry
Chloe Ayling a model was kidnapped in 2017 and held for 6 days by 2 brothers claiming to be
part of a terrorist organisation ‘The Black Death Group’ and she was put up for sale on the dark
web.
They were trying to sell her as a sex slave for 300,000 Pound Sterling, she however talked her
way out of the kidnapping after explaining about her young son. She says she is lucky to have
escaped and survived.
Her story was doubted because she appeared happy and wasn’t tearing up at the smallest
instance, she also stated that since cameras were a part of her everyday life, she probably had
reacted very differently from someone else who could have in her situation.
She also said that being a glamour model made people think that her story was fake and that
she just wanted fame and attention, and was trying to dredge this up in the form of sympathy
for her trauma.
The story goes that she turned for a photo shoot in Milan, Italy, got drugged on Ketamine a
tranquilliser was stuffed in a bag then in a car boot and driven about 120 miles away from the
city to a farmhouse, she was gagged and unconscious for most of the journey. Either by the
Ketamine or by suffocation Chloe at that point of time could have died.
Her captor brainwashed her into thinking he was part of a Romanian human trafficking terrorist
ring, that he had to sell her to get out of the ring and that she would be fed to tigers when her
owners grew tired of her.
He made her believe he was her knight in shining armour saying that she was kidnapped by
mistake and that she would be released and he cared about her, because the worth of young
mothers on the dark web is worth less, he made her put her trust in him, making her believe
she would be killed if she was not with him and he would be too.
Made her scared enough that she didn’t want to anger him by saying no to sleeping in his bed,
or when days later he kept asking her when they would become a couple, she answered as when
she would be released.
He also told her to spread the message of black death as a leading terror organisation and to
send him 50000 in bitcoin, when she goes back to UK
On the day of her release, he drove her to the consulate in Milan, they had breakfast together
and he walked in with her to hand her in. She acted to the consulate as if he was her only dear
friend and when questioned about how she contacted him after escaping and her not being able
to answer right he was arrested and she was questioned.
She was questioned about shoe shopping with him holding hands, after Italian authorities had
been informed of her kidnaping when they had asked for the Ransom money. She was sympathetic about her attacker’s arrest still thinking he was the one who had actually saved her from black death.
She only learnt the actual truth of her attacker at the pre- trial where she got to know the truth.
There was her drugged up photos on his phone, he had also been searching on google for
poisons ricin and cyanide, with repeated searches about Chloe Ayling, Black Death and Sex
Trafficking.
About all the cosying up to her attacker she had this to say “No one can say you should have
acted in a certain way, because who the hell has gone through that? Something so crazy. So
how would you know how to react? Anything you think will get you free, you have just got to
do.” “If you just refuse to do anything they say, most people wouldn’t come out alive. I’d
rather have acted as I did and be here right now, rather than act as people say I should have.”
After her kidnapping she appeared on many talk shows was eager to share her story did not cry
and therefore was heavily interrogated by her interviewers. She also wrote a book on her
struggles another reason why people believed this whole kidnapping was her masterminded
plan to gain more publicity, this followed by her meeting her attacker at least twice in person
and being his friend on face book didn’t help her chances of being heard.
Her case brought to light many facts, which she did not know, the judge described her attacker
as “a fantasist with narcissistic tendencies”. Lukasz Herba was sentenced to 16 years and 9
months of imprisonment and his accomplice his brother Michal Herba was sentenced to 16
years and 8 months on an appeal to the higher court their punishment was reduced 12 years and
1 month for Lukasz and 5 years and 8 months to Michal.
BBC later this year is planning to turn this into a factual documentary, this had been made with
Chloe’s permission, and she says she is happy that they are making the series.
