Nicola Reyes: Terrified Brit would rather DIE than serve sentence in Dominican Republic prison
Click to see pic Dan Callister
Terrified Nicola Reyes will never forget the screams of a young man beaten to death only feet away from her.
She was left cowering in her squalid prison in the dirt-poor Dominican *Republic as inmates laid into their victim in the next cell.
Moments later she watched in horror as guards dragged the man’s battered body into the corridor in the notorious jail dubbed the Devil’s Hotel.
“They left him there dead in front of us until the morning,” says Nicola, tears welling up in her eyes.
“I saw other male prisoners chained up so high by their hands they were forced to stand on tip-toe. Guards would beat them with sticks until the sticks broke.”
These images dominate 37-year-old Nicola’s *nightmares – along with vivid dreams about her *husband Jorge who died underneath the wheels of her car.
That is why she has been locked up for the past 14 months, herself a target for prison contract killers – accused of homicide over what she insists was a terrible accident.
She claims she has not even been officially charged.
And it could be another two years before her case goes to trial on a holiday isle *visited by more than 150,000 British tourists a year.
Even her own lawyer in the *Caribbean fears she will be convicted of killing her husband.
“If I am convicted – and I truly think I will be – I will get 30 years,” she says. “I will kill myself. I have worked out a way to do it.”
Her health is deteriorating *alarmingly.
She has intestine and bladder infections and can no longer eat the watery *porridge served for breakfast and dinner. She barely sleeps.
Her parents, Michael and Jeannette Clements, turned to the Sunday Mirror after failing to get help for Nicola from the British Embassy or the Foreign Office.
They have launched a petition begging David Cameron to intervene in a case that is far from clear-cut.
Jorge’s relatives in the Dominican Republic claim she deliberately ran over him over after an argument. Initially they demanded £360,000 “blood money” for what Nicola insists was a freak *accident.
Sitting in a filthy prison alcove watched by gun-toting guards, Nicola twists her wedding ring and fights tears as she tells how her idyllic life in the holiday resort of Puerto Plata turned to hell.
After a whirlwind romance, Nicola wed in 2007 and set up home in Puerto Plata. “I loved the Dominican Republic and I adored my job as a travel rep,” says Nicola, who worked for Thomas Cook.
“On bus tours, I pointed out the local jail. It’s known as the Devil’s Hotel – and now I can honestly say it is hell.
“Ironically, when hotel guests asked me about renting cars I’d tell them not to. If you even witness an accident here police will throw you in jail.
“I was once thrown in a cell for a few hours because I called the police after seeing a drunk get knocked down.
“Everyone drives motorbikes without helmets, Jorge was no exception. Our relationship wasn’t perfect. He could be hot-headed, but we loved each other and Jorge loved my kids.
“When they wanted to move back to the UK with my parents, Jorge and I thought we could split our time between Britain and the Dominican Republic.
Nicola spent six weeks in the notorious Devil’s Hotel. She says she received death threats and feared she would be killed by inmates.
“The first time I appeared in court I was chained to male prisoners,” she says. “A relative of Jorge shouted he would give them cash to kill me.
"The men started trying to hit the back of my head. I was terrified. The power went out one night and the other women told me that only happened if there was going to be a break-out or a contract killing.
“There were 15 of us in the cell and they pulled me into the middle of them to protect me. After six weeks I was transferred to a private jail. I share a cell with two other girls.
"I have the top bunk and water drips on to my bed when it rains. There’s a bucket behind a screened- off curtain for a toilet and rats the size of cats in the corridors.
“In the mornings I cry in the shower – it is the only privacy I get.
“My intestines are inflamed and I have constant bladder infections. There is a doctor here who administers basic checks. I’ve had two smear tests that showed something was wrong. I’m terrified I have cancer.”
Nicola’s parents, who moved back to Cardiff in April last year just before her arrest, have spent more than £100,000 on her legal bills and living expenses.
They have drained their bank accounts and retirement fund.
Nicola’s mum Jeannette says: “Our local
MP Stephen Doughty has been terrific but the Foreign Office and *embassy staff just don’t want to know.
“I keep hoping Nic will be offered bail but we have no way of paying the £150,000 for that. We have been holding car boot sales and collecting money via a Facebook page. But the longer Nic stays in jail, the more I fear the worst.”
Nicola says her fellow inmates look after her. When she appeared in court last July, one lent her a white shirt, beige shoes and a pair of black trousers.
“Some of the inmates have killed their husbands – often in self-defence because they were being beaten,” she says.
“But Jorge and I were madly in love. I did not kill him. It was an awful accident.”
A Foreign Office spokesman said later: “We are aware that Nicola Reyes was charged in July 2012 and has since been held in detention pending trial.
“We have been providing consular assistance to Mrs Reyes and her family.
"We cannot interfere in the judicial *process of another country.”
This thread was started 8 months ago.
The name of the thread is : Extended Vacation ! .. Locked up in D.R. for 7 months without being charged
She is now in her 15th month of incarceration withut being charged.
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