Patty Hearst recounts her kidnap by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

On 4 February 1974, Patty Hearst, the granddaughter of American publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, was kidnapped.

A 19 year old heiress was kidnapped by a psychotic band of terrorists.

Patty Hearst was held captive in a closet for 60 days. During her captivity she was transformed into an urban terrorist who helped hold up a bank and shoot at security guards.

Nineteen months after her kidnapping, she was captured by the FBI and sentenced to 35 years in prison, later reduced to seven years. She claimed she had been brainwashed and manipulated. President Jimmy Carter finally commuted her sentence and she walked free after serving three years in prison.

Joined by her husband Bernard Shaw, Patty Hearst on a first visit to Ireland tells her story on ‘Kenny Live’. A student at the University of California in 1974 she describes herself as a pretty average 19 year old. Patty Hearst says she was not involved in politics and had not witnessed a lot of political activity on campus.

The militant organisation known as the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) were active in the area. The group were responsible for the murder of Marcus Foster who was the first black superintendent of public schools in Oakland. Amongst other conspiracy theories, the group had claimed that Maurice Foster was a CIA agent. There was an ongoing effort to find this group.

Nobody could figure out why they had killed him.

Just before Patty Hearst was kidnapped, two of the members of Symbionese Liberation Army were captured. It is believed that their capture triggered the kidnapping of Patty Hearst. The FBI had raided a safehouse for the group and found a hit list. Patty Hearst was one of the names on the list. However, the FBI did not inform anyone on that list. Other people on the list included several industrial leaders in the San Francisco Bay Area. Patty Hearst explains that it was not just a list that the FBI discovered but rather detailed plans of her kidnapping. It was only following the kidnap that the FBI contacted her parents to apologise.

Armed members of the Symbionese Liberation Army broke into Patty Hearst’s apartment. They blindfolded and gagged her. When leaving her apartment, the kidnappers shot at neighbours but nobody was hit.

All I could hear at that point was breaking glass and screams.

It was only when Patty Hearst arrived at the safehouse that it occurred to her who the kidnappers were. At first, she hoped the group were looking for a ransom payment and she would then be released. She soon realised that this was not what they wanted. Firstly, the group demanded the release of their two members who had been arrested. Then they demanded the establishment of a food distribution programme. Patty Hearst says there was never really an end to their demands as they made more and more requests, all the while brainwashing her. They spent time convincing her to join the group and educating her about their objectives and beliefs.

They spent the next two months working on me.

Patty Hearst felt that there was no other choice but to cooperate with the kidnappers. She says she was badly treated, physically attacked, and raped.

This episode of Kenny Live was broadcast on 3 April 1993. The presenter is Pat Kenny.