- Ex-judge Paul Guest relives of Taj Mahal terror drama
- By Matthew Schulz
- The Herald Sun
- 07/12/2008 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: The Rooster ( 264 articles in 2008 )
A FORMER judge and three-time Olympic rower thought he would die at gunpoint in the luxury Taj Mahal hotel at the height of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
Former Family Court Justice Paul Guest has described the “bloody nightmare” at the historic hotel and says he missed the main terrorist assault yesterday.
Now safe, after being rescued by Indian commandos, he said he was left reeling after being confronted at gunpoint at the height of the drama.
A special forces soldier dressed in black burst into his room, soon after Mr Guest heard gunfire and grenade explosions outside his door.
"The next thing I know is the door just came off its hinges, this figure emerged, I mean I was just in a blur, and (he was) screaming at me and my instant thought was it was a terrorist,” he told Radio 3AW this morning.
"You don't sort of concentrate, I thought I was a dead man.
"An AK(47) … one of these automatic weapons just thrust at me, for a nanosecond I can tell you ... I thought 'well this is it, I'm gone'."
“Then I realised he was screaming at me “up, up” and then I realised it was one of these special squad soldiers.
“We got taken downstairs in a group. They took the whole floor. They extracted about four more and then they took us down.
“It was a most surreal journey down the back, with a group of people not speaking to each other - just with signals.
“Down at the bottom.
There was blood all over the floor, bits of bodies. Out in the foyer in this beautiful hotel was like in a fog with all the smoke and cordite and an inch of water over the beautiful marble.
It took nearly 20 hours between the start of the crisis and relative safety, he said.
I saw two of the terrorists running across the patio just below me.
I heard a grenade go off just as these people in black came up.
He described saw a body downstairs, and saw blood down the stairs like a body had been dragged down.
I don’t know if people realise how serious this is.
“I’m glad I’m out of there.”
Mr Guest said while he grabbed his wallet, passport, phone and charger “there’s no way I’ll get my other stuff out”.
He said during the battle between terrorists and commandos his room shook and he could hear glass tinkling below.
He said most of his news came via text messages and phone calls from friends and family watching overseas TV news.
At one stage, his brother Peter rang from Turkey was reassuring him CNN reported “you’ll soon be out”.
“Just as he said that there was a loud explosion.”
He said he was confident he would not be traumatised by the drama.
“I’m really absolutely fine, no worries about that at all.
“I feel really good, but I feel really lucky to get out of there.
“Someone up there is looking after me. It’s a miracle that I wasn’t caught when it all happened. I missed that by about four or five minutes.
“To be able to slide through their hands the way I did to me was a miracle.
COMMENT: I'm just sorry it wasn't a terrorist - you would have then experienced what you have done to thousands of families while a senior judge in the family court. On one particular case you also acted as "paedophile protector", - great record Paul, of Olympian proportions. But there is always satisfaction in the knowledge of Divine Law where you'll always receive exactly what you gave out.
Former Family Court Justice Paul Guest has described the “bloody nightmare” at the historic hotel and says he missed the main terrorist assault yesterday.
Now safe, after being rescued by Indian commandos, he said he was left reeling after being confronted at gunpoint at the height of the drama.
A special forces soldier dressed in black burst into his room, soon after Mr Guest heard gunfire and grenade explosions outside his door.
"The next thing I know is the door just came off its hinges, this figure emerged, I mean I was just in a blur, and (he was) screaming at me and my instant thought was it was a terrorist,” he told Radio 3AW this morning.
"You don't sort of concentrate, I thought I was a dead man.
"An AK(47) … one of these automatic weapons just thrust at me, for a nanosecond I can tell you ... I thought 'well this is it, I'm gone'."
“Then I realised he was screaming at me “up, up” and then I realised it was one of these special squad soldiers.
“We got taken downstairs in a group. They took the whole floor. They extracted about four more and then they took us down.
“It was a most surreal journey down the back, with a group of people not speaking to each other - just with signals.
“Down at the bottom.
There was blood all over the floor, bits of bodies. Out in the foyer in this beautiful hotel was like in a fog with all the smoke and cordite and an inch of water over the beautiful marble.
It took nearly 20 hours between the start of the crisis and relative safety, he said.
I saw two of the terrorists running across the patio just below me.
I heard a grenade go off just as these people in black came up.
He described saw a body downstairs, and saw blood down the stairs like a body had been dragged down.
I don’t know if people realise how serious this is.
“I’m glad I’m out of there.”
Mr Guest said while he grabbed his wallet, passport, phone and charger “there’s no way I’ll get my other stuff out”.
He said during the battle between terrorists and commandos his room shook and he could hear glass tinkling below.
He said most of his news came via text messages and phone calls from friends and family watching overseas TV news.
At one stage, his brother Peter rang from Turkey was reassuring him CNN reported “you’ll soon be out”.
“Just as he said that there was a loud explosion.”
He said he was confident he would not be traumatised by the drama.
“I’m really absolutely fine, no worries about that at all.
“I feel really good, but I feel really lucky to get out of there.
“Someone up there is looking after me. It’s a miracle that I wasn’t caught when it all happened. I missed that by about four or five minutes.
“To be able to slide through their hands the way I did to me was a miracle.
COMMENT: I'm just sorry it wasn't a terrorist - you would have then experienced what you have done to thousands of families while a senior judge in the family court. On one particular case you also acted as "paedophile protector", - great record Paul, of Olympian proportions. But there is always satisfaction in the knowledge of Divine Law where you'll always receive exactly what you gave out.
Source: https://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,,24719567-2862,00.html
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