Millionaire entrepreneur Dick Smith has been identified as the white knight who secured the freedom of kidnapped Australian photojournalist Nigel Brennan.
Smith helped fund the Brennan family's $US1 million ($1.09m) ransom after responding to a call for help, the Courier Mail reports.
Nigel's mother Heather made contact with the high profile adventurer after her family's frustration boiled over regarding perceived inaction from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Smith has refused to discuss the details of his assistance until both Mr Brennan and Canadian hostage Amanda Lindhou are safely returned home.
Meanwhile, the government has also come under attack from a key Somali liaison in the 15-month kidnapping saga, who has reportedly claimed that Brennan's arduous ordeal would have only lasted a matter of weeks had a more direct approach been taken.
"If the government had been flexible and creative, this man (Brennan) would have been out, in my view," The Australian reported the unnamed liaison officer as saying.
"To my knowledge, there has never been a kidnapping that has taken so long. Never."
Mr Brennan and Ms Lindhout flew out of the Somali capital Mogadishu in a chartered plane early on Thursday morning, local officials said.
The Queensland photographer, who has been pictured smiling with a full beard since his release while Ms Lindhout was pictured in a black veil, flew into neighbouring Kenya en route home.
The pair was captured while attempting to visit a refugee camp in Afgooye, just outside Mogadishu, on August 23 last year.
Brennan, 37, has described being stripped and locked in a small, dark room during his 462-day imprisonment.
"Being pistol-whipped is sort of torture," he said.
"Being completely stripped of everything and then locked in a room, no one to speak to, is a form of torture, really."
Front page
RSS Feed