Kiwi Red Cross nurse Louisa Akavi was comforted by a fellow hostage while in Isis captivity in Syria. Photo / Supplied
Kiwi Red Cross nurse Louisa Akavi was comforted by a fellow hostage while in Isis captivity in Syria. Photo / Supplied
Terrified Kiwi nurse Louisa Akavi was comforted by a fellow hostage after being taken captive in Syria by Isis, a US court has heard.
Red Cross worker Akavi, whose fate is still unknown, was seized by Isis in Syria more than seven years ago and held in captivity by a group of British jihadists, nicknamed The Beatles.
One of those Isis members, El Shafee Elsheikh, 33, is now on trial in the US with one of their alleged former captives Frederico Motka giving evidence that he saw Akavi struggling to cope with her captivity.
A third hostage - US aid worker Kayla Mueller - was subsequently brought in by the Isis captors to comfort Akavi, the Daily Mail has reported.
"Louisa came across as really scared. Someone who was relatively new to the game - it's a game of survival," Motka reportedly told the jury.
"She wasn't doing well which is the reason they brought Kayla in as well.
"Kayla was brought in to help calm her down."
It is unknown whether Akavi is still alive, although the Red Cross holds on to hope that she is, fearing she may still be in captivity or in a refugee camp.
It was only revealed Akavi was an Isis hostage more than five years after her Red Cross convoy was ambushed in Syria on October 13, 2013 and she was abducted.
Kiwi Louisa Akavi has carried out 17 missions as a nurse for the Red Cross, helping some of the world's most vulnerable people. Photo / Supplied
Media in New Zealand and around the world held off reporting the abduction after Akavi's family received a chilling email from Islamic State.
Her terrorist kidnappers told her Porirua family she would be killed if her 2013 capture was made public.
Cook Islander Kiwi Akavi was in Syria as part of her lifetime of service to some of the world's most vulnerable people.
She has carried out 17 missions for the Red Cross around the world.
That includes working in Somalia, Bosnia, Iraq and Chechnya where in 1996 armed men entered the hospital when she was sleeping and shot dead six people, including fellow New Zealand nurse Sheryl Thayer.
Avril Patterson, who has worked as health coordinator for the Red Cross in Yemen, told the New York Times in 2019 she arrived in Syria the day after her friend Akavi was abducted.
"Louisa is incredibly tough, resilient and has a sharp sense of humour," Patterson said.
Mohammed Emwazi, also known as Jihadi John, an Isis convert and member of The Beatles group of militants who executed hostages. Photo / Supplied
"She's a no-nonsense nurse who just gets on with the job. She's humble and doesn't look for the limelight, she just wants to help people.
"As nurses, we don't care where people are from, what their politics are, or what they may have done in the past. We just want to help people. And that's Louisa all over. She is an amazing human being."
The Daily Mail reported that Motka saw Akavi and US aid worker Mueller being brought into a room he was being held in.
The Beatles at one point praised Mueller for her stoicism in front of a room full of male hostages.
"She was stoic. She just held herself really well to the point where one of The Beatles said: 'She's braver than any of you lot'," the Daily Mail reported Motka saying.
While Motka was released after 14 months in captivity, Mueller suffered horrific abuse.
Handed over to Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, she was raped repeatedly before being killed.
Elsheikh is accused of hostage-taking and conspiracy to commit murder but he claims he was not part of The Beatles group of militants.
