Model Chloe Ayling broke down today as she told an Italian court of the moment her 'Black Death' kidnappers stuffed her in a duffel bag and threatened to sell her as a sex slave - with the bidding starting at €300.
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| The model refused to attend in person saying she was too afraid to face her alleged kidnapper |
The tearful 21-year-old appeared before a court in Milan via video link from London for the first time to be quizzed about her abduction.
She was expected to face accusations that she helped stage the kidnapping to boost her modelling career.
But within minutes of starting to give her evidence she broke down in tears as she described being grabbed and drugged by a man wearing a balaclava who said he was part of a shadowy gang called Black Death.
The model described how at one point during her ordeal she offered sex to one of the gang members in a desperate bid to escape.
A court usher handed her a tissue as she covered her face with her hand and gently sobbed.
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| An Italian police officer has previously demonstrated how Ms Ayling could have been kept in a bag |
Clearly distressed, Ayling said: 'I tried to get away. There was a hand over my mouth and I could not breathe. I was trying to get the hand off my face, but I could not fight much longer.
'Straight away I felt drowsy and I fell to the floor unconscious. When I started to wake up I was in a restricted space, I was in a black duffel bag.
'I had tape all around my mouth and I had handcuffs on my wrists and handcuffs on my ankles.
'I was only wearing my bodysuit. I had been stripped of my clothes. I had my socks on and a hole had been cut in the bag so I could breathe.
'At first I didn't know where I was but then as the drugs wore off I could hear the noise of a car and realised I was in a bag in the boot of a car.'
Ayling said she was told by Luckas Herba that he was a leader of a group known as 'Black Death' and that she had been kidnapped to be sold as a sex slave.
'He said there would be an auction and the opening bid was €300,' Ayling told the court.
'I was told that after they had finished with the girls they are passed around to their brothers and relatives and then they are fed to the tigers.'
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| Chilling images show the model, 21, drugged on the floor before she was kidnapped |
Ayling said she was told the gang targeted women leaving nightclubs and they had many women whose parents had no idea where they were.
But prosecutor Paolo Storari reminded her that in a police statement she said the opening bid was €75,0000.
Ayling added: 'Yes, that is it, I remember'. She went on to say Herba had told her there was a €300,000 ransom that had to be paid to secure her release.
'I said that my family would not be able to pay €300,000, but that Phil (her agent) could do it. Then I gave three names that could have paid that amount.'
Asked if Herba organised auctions for kidnapped girls, she replied: 'Yes, for people in the Middle East. He told me, "the younger the person, the more he is paid. If she is a virgin even better, it costs much more".'
Ayling told the court Herba did not agree with her kidnapping but to secure her release he would have to pay half of the £300,000 ransom to the Romanians who ran the Black Death group. Herba said he did not have that sort of money.
Questioned about the 'Black Death Group', Ayling said Herba boasted that he had killed people by poisoning them
'Lucasz said that the group also dealt with other things such as killing people,' she said.
Ayling, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was lured to Milan for a fake photoshoot before being drugged, handcuffed and bundled into a suitcase during a six-day ordeal in July 2017.
She was driven over 100 miles to a remote rented farmhouse in the Piedmont region where the bothers claimed they worked for a gang called Black Death.
The model was today giving evidence at the trial of Michal Herba, 38, who is accused of helping his brother Lukasz with the abduction.
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| She was giving evidence at the trial of Michal Herba (pictured) who is accused of helping his brother kidnap the model |
Lukasz was jailed last June for her kidnap and Ayling was not called on at the trial.
Ayling was told she did not have to give evidence at his trial – despite Herba's claim that she had come up with the idea of being kidnapped to help boost her glamour modelling career.
But lawyers for Michal, who is charged with the same offence of kidnap, successfully petitioned the court to force Ayling to be cross–examined and asked about her alleged role in the kidnap.
The model had refused to attend in person saying she was too afraid to face her alleged kidnapper, but was quizzed via a video link from Westminster Magistrates Court in London.
After almost an hour of technical difficulties in setting up the video in London, Ayling appeared on screen.
Dressed in green top, black jacket and with her with hair piled in a bun, the model sat in front of a computer screen at a desk in the London courtroom.
Michal Herba sat alongside his lawyer listening intently to Ayling give her version of events.
The former Celebrity Big Brother contestant told the court about the day she was kidnapped and described how she took a taxi from her hotel to a studio where she was supposed to be taking part in a photo shoot.
She said: 'On 11 July, 2017, I left my room at the hotel and a taxi driver drove me to the studio. When I arrived to the studio it was 8.45am.
'Since it was very early and I didn't know which door to enter the studio, I found one but I didn't know it was the wrong one.
'Then I called the contact name in the contact email I had received and someone answered. The one who answered told me to come in if I wanted.
'I said it was locked, but he said, 'No, it's open.' So I tried to open another door and managed to enter.
'Once inside the corner, I heard silence and I didn't see anyone. There were two doors - one on the left and one at the end of the corridor.
'The door to the left said 'study' in capital letters. It was a little open, I opened it completely to be able to enter, but at that moment someone touched me from behind.
'Someone put an arm around his neck and covered my mouth with his other hand. Since they had closed my mouth, I couldn't breathe and tried to take that hand off my face. Then another man came in, wearing a balaklava and trying to grab my right arm.
'I tried to resist, but since I had my hand on my face, I couldn't get any strength. So this person injected me with something in his right wrist. Immediately I felt dizzy and fell to the ground, I fainted.
'After I woke up I was in a restricted space. It was a canvas bag or duffel bag. There was tape over my mouth.
'I did not know where I was, took me while to come around after the drug and heard the car engine.'
Ayling said that her relationship with Luckas Herba began by just talking. But she said the conversation soon turned sexual and she used it to her advantage.
'He made sexual suggestions and I said if you release me then something can happen. I could see his reaction was positive.' she said.
Ayling said he told her to go to the bathroom and get in the shower and not talk to him any more. He said he was sexually frustrated.
Earlier, Ayling had said she spent the first night sleeping on the floor of a remote farmhouse where she was chained to a chest of draws.
By the second night she was sleeping alongside Herba. 'We spent most of the time talking. We did a lot of talking.'
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| Lawyers for Michal successfully petitioned the court to force Ayling (pictured) to be cross–examined and asked about her role in the kidnap |
The model said she had been 'completely brainwashed' into believing her life was in grave danger from the Black Death group.
Quizzed why she walked hand in hand with Herba and went shopping for a pair of shoes she was again asked why she did not try to escape.
She said: 'I thought I would be killed. I was completely brainwashed. He (Herba) was the only person to rely on and set me free. I did not want to cross him
'I was brainwashed. No one can understand what I was feeling at the time. Even if I were free of Lukasz I would not be free of Black Death.
Ayling said she did not eat for the first four days she was held captive.
It was only after she began eating the same food as Herba that she realised she would not be poisoned.
Lukasz Herba was found guilty a year ago of kidnapping Ayling and holding her hostage for six days.
The Polish born national had claimed that Ayling was a willing participant in the abduction as she wanted to boost her modelling career.
Doubts about Ayling's story surfaced after they were captured on CCTV film walking hand in hand in the remote Italian village where she claimed to have been held.
After the verdict Ayling said she had been vindicated – but was quick to seize on her fame by joining the cast of Celebrity Big Brother.
She also wrote a book about her experience, but when modelling work failed to flood in turned to working for a £2 a minute sex chat line.
The 21-year-old is still linked to the Studio 66 site where callers can talk to Ayling by paying the premium rate.
At Herba's trial prosecutors said he was working in tandem with his younger brother Michal.
They had lured Ayling to Milan with the promise of a photo shoot but on arriving at a studio was drugged with Ketamin and bundled into a canvas bag.
In her witness statement Ayling said she did not try to escape as she feared for her life.
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| Ayling was quick to seize on her fame by joining the cast of Celebrity Big Brother a year after the kidnapping |
She was freed unharmed after six days when Herba dropped her off at the British Embassy in Milan. He was arrested almost immediately as he tried to flee.
Herba presented a pathetic figure at his trial as he repeatedly changed his story over the kidnapping.
His lawyer Katia Kolakowska had wanted to question Ayling, but a judge ruled it out saying she had made a detailed witness statement. Herba is appealing against his sentence.
Today, Ayling was told she would have to make a second appearance before the court after Michal Herba's defence lawyer was not given the opportunity to cross examine her.
The state prosecutor spent so long taking Ayling through her kidnap ordeal that the court in Milan adjourned for another day.
The model was sat giving evidence from Westminster Magistrates Court for over five hours with just a 45-minute break.
The trial was adjourned until Wednesday June 5th.
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