John Travolta's attorney warned a former Bahamas senator she wouldn't get away with blackmailing the actor for £18 million.
Lawyer Michael McDermott told a court in Nassau, in the Bahamas, yesterday (01.10.09) how defendant Pleasant Bridgewater demanded the huge sum on behalf of paramedic Tarino Lightbourne, who had treated Travolta's 16-year-old son Jett after the seizure which killed him.
Lightbourne and Bridgewater are jointly accused of attempting to extort and conspiring to extort by means of threats, charges they both deny.
Travolta has claimed Lightbourne threatened to "imply that the death of my son was intentional and I was culpable in some way" unless he handed over a large sum of money.
Describing the telephone conversation on January 12, McDermott said: "I told her, 'You are playing a very dangerous game, lady. I do not assent to your demands. I will go to the police.' "
Despite threatening the former politician with police involvement, McDermott claims she repeatedly called him with Lightbourne's demands and said they would accept £9.45 million in exchange for the Refusal of Transport/Treatment document Travolta had signed.
According to McDermott, Bridgewater said the document was important because "Mr. Travolta either intentionally killed his child or was negligent and that this document is evidence that Mr. Travolta tried to flee the jurisdiction with his child's dead body."
McDermott explained to the jury: "She indicated that this figure was the bottom line and she indicated that she was ready to receive the funds. I told her I would get back to her."
On Wednesday (30.09.09), the Hollywood actor told the courtroom how Lightbourne said he would accuse him of deliberately killing his son unless he was paid.
After contacting Bahamian police - who wired him up in a sting operation - McDermott told Lightbourne his grieving client had agreed to pay £6.3 million over four years for the document.
Their conversation was recorded and tapes submitted to the court as evidence.
McDermott claimed the pair agreed on this amount and that Bridgewater emailed him instructions on where to electronically transfer the money.
The document in question had been signed after both Travolta and paramedics had fought to revive the teenager following his seizure at the family's Caribbean home on January 2, 2009.
It would have allowed the actor to fly him to a Florida hospital rather than drive 30 miles to their nearest hospital.
The trial continues.
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