Arthur N.R. Robinson went before the Simmonds Commission of Enquiry Tuesday to tell of his his ordeal at the hands of insurrectionists led by Jamat al Muslieen leader Abu Bakr in July 1990.
The retired president of Trinidad and Tobago was the country's prime minister at the time and was held hostage in the Red House.
Robinson sat in his wheelchair and meticulously described some of the moments of the failed coup. He remembered being shot.
"The person, whose name I subsequently found out was Bilaal Abdullah, came to me with his gun and microphone as I lay on the floor and asked whether I would do what I was instructed to do. I said 'yes.'
"I had just finished reading Vidia Naipaul's 'Among the Believers', so I had gathered from that book some impression about the character of these Muslim fanatics. That is why I said 'yes'," he told the commissioners.
"But I had intended to oppose nevertheless whatever they asked me to do. He then left me and I thought he had gone to consult with Abu Bakr," he continued.
"He came back with the gun and microphone and holding the gun nearby, put the microphone to my mouth and said 'Will you instruct the Regiment to withdraw their guns because the Government has fallen?'
"I received that instruction with revulsion. I thought that it was not only impertinent, I thought I could not possibly do anything of the sort and should do just the opposite.
"So I shouted to the Regiment, 'These are murderers and torturers. Attack with full force!' Bilaal Abdullah drew back. He appeared to be in shock. But a young man who was a short distance away fired his gun.
"I do not know whether he intended it. I don't know whether he intended the direction in which (the bullet) went. But it passed through my right knee, hitting me on the right side and exiting on the left side. My medical advisers told me that if the bullet had diverted about half an inch differently, I would have died in a short space of time," he said.
Robinson also spoke of the shock of seeing Canon Knolly Clarke walk past him in the chamber and not saying anything.
"I saw him, I recognised him. He came in, walked straight by me as though he did not recognise me. And I was very saddened by this, that somebody like Canon Knolly Clarke would pass by the Prime Minister and not even recognise him.
"Or if he did recognise him, not even acknowledge that he had seen him. But I was sure he was in a position to see me," he said.
Robinson said he refused to eat or drink anything during the period the Muslimeen held his hostage because he feared that they would poison him. He said while he lay on the floor an armed young man who was apparently guarding him spoke about the cause of the insurrection.
"He told me 'You all have caused this, you know. Look at what you all have done to the people' and so on.
"There were two of the Cabinet members who were ladies (Jennifer Johnson and Gloria Henry) laying on the floor close by, who had suffered the same kind of treatment we had suffered. So I pointed at them and said 'Is this what you all do to women?' And he shut up. He never said a word after that."
Robinson said there was a measure of humanity among the men, noting that they helped him "and I think Mr Humphrey" to go to the bathroom. He also said when he was released from the Parliament, one of the men helped him to get out of the Red House by taking him on his back.
Robinson suggested that the days of the siege had changed the attitude of the Muslimeen.
"When they entered the Parliament, they were hurling abuses at me and did not recognise me at all or the position which I held...When they were taking me out of the Parliament, they were referring to me as 'Mr Prime Minister'.
"I attributed it to the fact that I had withstood them in such a manner...I think they began to have respect for me," he said.
Robinson said all through the ordeal he did not know that Abu Bakr had also taken control of the state-owned television station, TTT. He also could not say whether his deputy, Winston Dookeran, whom he authorised to lead a negotiation, ever left the chamber.
"I was lying on the floor bleeding and hearing commotion around me so I was not observing Mr Dookeran," he said.
Dookeran eventually helped negotiate the end of the six-day ordeal which led to the surrender.
Robinson also spoke of an incident that demonstrated a measure of humanity in the men who had taken country of the country's Parliament.
"At one stage I was handed an envelope by one of the Muslimeen who whispered to me, 'From your wife.'" Robinson said.
I was really surprised at this, because I thought these persons inhuman. But now (I felt 'well they are human after all...I opened the envelope and saw a bit of paper and I read the note. Only three words: 'I love you,'".
Robinson said that note from his deceased spouse, Patricia, "buoyed my spirits up tremendously."
He said he had no idea what was happening to her or to his children. He noted that his son was abroad but his daughter was with his wife.
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