There are few things more terrible than losing your child. One of those things is having to re-live the death of your child in a courtroom, because someone is trying to extort from you and profit from that child’s death. A lot has been said about John Travolta – specifically about his ties to Scientology – but no one can argue that yesterday had to be one of the worst days in his life. Travolta and wife Kelly Preston appeared in a Bahamian courtroom today, where John had to give his testimony in an extortion trial. The actor was asked to recount the time leading up to his son Jett’s death, and for the first time, he publicly revealed that his late son was indeed autistic.

In what will no doubt go down as the second most difficult day of his year, John Travolta took the stand this morning in the trial of two Bahamians allegedly involved in a $25 million extortion plot against his family.

A grim Travolta and Kelly Preston arrived at a Bahamian courthouse this morning escorted by a fleet of security.

The actor took the stand and immediately began revisiting the moments before his 16-year-old son Jett’s death on Jan. 2.

Jett’s nanny awakened Travolta and Preston at roughly 10:15 a.m., the actor said, informing them that Jett was unconscious in his bathroom.

“He was pounding on the door upstairs where we were sleeping. I ran downstairs with my wife to help my son,” Travolta recalled, adding that when he got to him, one of the boy’s caretakers was already performing chest compressions.

The actor quickly jumped into action and began administering CPR to his son, whom he also acknowledged on the stand suffered not only from Kawasaki disease, but from autism as well.

“Jeff, the other nanny, was doing some compressions,” he said. “I was doing the breathing.

“I took the place of the woman who was doing CPR. She was an employee of Old Bahama Bay who I recognized as such.”

After a brief lunch break, Travolta returned to the stand and for the first time admitted that the long-time speculation was true about his son’s condition.

“He was autistic,” he said. “He suffered from a seizure disorder.”

Travolta said his son suffered seizures every five to 10 days and that each seizure lasted around 45 seconds. Jett would usually sleep for 12 hours after an episode.

Travolta did not get much further in his testimony: An objection was raised and the court recessed. It’s clear what spurred on the objection and whether Travolta will return to the stand.

Opening arguments kicked off yesterday, with the Bahamian chief prosecutor wasting no time getting to the heart of the matter.

“Contact was made with certain persons to communicate a threat to John Travolta,” Bernard Turner said, referring to codefendants Pleasant Bridgewater, a former senator, and Tarino Lightbourne, an ambulance driver, who together are alleged to have attempted to extort $25 million from the grieving star.

At the root of the case is a refusal-to-transport document: The trial’s first witness, police inspector Andrew Wells, said Travolta requested that Jett be taken directly to the airport rather than the hospital—the reasoning likely being that he could just as quickly get his son medical treatment in the U.S. as on the island—and signed a release form stating just that.

In the end, Jett was taken directly to the hospital after all. It’s unclear what accounted for the change in decision or why the threat of publication of the signed document seemed like a good bargaining chip for the alleged extortionists.

The second witness to take the stand yesterday, paramedic Derrex Rolle, testified that Jett was already unresponsive when the emergency services arrived at the actor’s vacation home.

The trial is expected to last three weeks.

[From E!Online]

I’m still kind of confused about this whole extortion plot and don’t really understand how this former senator and ambulance driver thought they’d get any money. It’s pretty clear that John Travolta signed the refusal to transport in a state of high emotion, hoping that he could transport his dying son by plane to the U.S. and possibly receive better care. When it was obvious that Jett was beyond medical intervention, he was transported to the hospital after all. So, again: where’s the motivation for extortion? These people are real lowlifes to exploit a grieving family. It must have been incredibly difficult for Travolta to take the stand and talk about his son’s last hours, but I’m glad he found the courage to do so. I hope these jerks go to jail for a long time.