Travolta tells court of son's death
John Travolta tells court of son's death
Also In The News
|
By Adam Leveridge
It has emerged that Renault told the FIA that it intends to remain in formula one next season, despite the outcome of the Singapore race-fixing scandal. |  |
Thursday, 24, Sep 2009 10:17
By Lewis Bazley.
Actor John Travolta has given evidence concerning the death of his teenage son as an extortion trial in the Bahamas continues.
A former Bahamian senator and a paramedic are accused of attempting to extort $25 million (£15 million) from the Pulp Fiction actor after his 16-year-old son Jett died in January.
The pair have pleaded not guilty to the allegation that they demanded money in exchange for keeping secret a document relating to Jett's treatment.
Accompanied by his wife Kelly Preston, Travolta gave evidence at the Nassau supreme court on Wednesday and recounted his attempt to save his son's life.
The 16-year-old passed away after suffering a seizure while on a family holiday in the Bahamas.
The teenager had a history of seizures, which his mother had attributed to a rare blood disorder known as Kawasaki disease, but Travolta's testimony on Wednesday saw him reveal for the first time that his son suffered from autism.
"My son was autistic and he suffered from seizure disorder every five to ten days," Travolta told the court. "He would suffer a seizure that would last 45 seconds to a minute and sleep for 12 hours."
Travolta explained he had been woken on the morning of January 2nd by the family's nanny Eli Wheaton and after finding his son, had begun to perform resuscitation procedures on Jett.
Police inspector Andrew Wells told the court on Tuesday that Travolta had wanted his son flown to the US rather than a Bahamian hospital and signed a form which released the responding paramedic team from liability.
The actor explained he signed the document without reading it, "because time was of the essence", but prosecutors allege that former senator Pleasant Bridgewater and paramedic Tarino Lightbourn later tried to extort money from Travolta over the form in question.
Jett was eventually taken to hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, but prosecutor Bernard Turner told the court on Tuesday that Lightbourn and Bridgewater threatened to release private information - including the signed release form - unless Travolta paid them $25 million (£15 million) .
The case continues.