Death Row in Paradise

Death Row in Paradise is a story of human interest that highlights one man’s journey through a military operation that went wrong and the imprisonment that was to follow. The book is a true story of the mercenary invasion of Seychelles from 1981 to 1983 where the objective was to replace President Albert Rene’s Socialist Government with a more Pro-western Government. This is a story of an attempted coup d’tat about forty years ago on Seychelles an idyllic, but obscure group of islands in the Indian Ocean. At the time, the attempt made headlines across the world, partly because it involved names still famous or notorious from the mercenary involvement in the Congo in the 1960s. In part, it involved the highjacking of an Air India jetliner where South Africa, the international pariah, was entangled and the incident was perceived as another small skirmish in the Cold War. It is a story about the author’s involvement from the very beginning of the plot, during the contact, his capture, the trial, and the death sentence, the mutiny, captivity, and finally his return to his family. However, this is more than a behind-the-scenes account of those faded headlines. It is the story of one individual’s personal growth. Aubrey was wounded and captured in Seychelles. He was severely beaten on a daily basis, had nine months of solitary confinement, stood trial, and was sentenced to death. He lived through a mutiny at their barracks and he eventually served two and a half years in captivity, a time which he valued with hindsight. He realized it was then that he discovered hidden depths among his comrades and himself. He discovered humanity in his jailers and in the president of Seychelles, whom his group had set out to depose. Cut off from his wife and family, Aubrey treasured their support from a distance, and today he does not for an instance take for granted the strength and joy of a loving family. It also deepened his faith, which today lights his path and he owes a lot to that escapade in Seychelles. Aubrey realized how shallow and crass the racial attitudes were in this world we live in. He experienced the unbelievable magnanimity and greatness of President Albert René, the man to whom Aubrey owes his life. He also experienced support from a distance from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a person he had been conditioned to expect nothing from except hostility. It was an illuminating and humbling experience. What he has been through and how he emerged victorious against all of it are detailed in this book.