'They put me in a trunk head first': Cora restaurant chain president recounts kidnapping

The trial for former Cora franchisee, Paul Zaidan, is shedding light on the mysterious kidnapping of the son of the breakfast restaurant chain founder's son in Mirabel in 2017.

Zaidan, 52, is facing charges of kidnapping, forcible confinement and extortion. The extent of his alleged involvement in the crime is unclear. 

The first witness called to the stand Tuesday was 49-year-old Nicholas Tsouflidis,  who is the alleged victim in this case, the president of the Cora restaurant chain and the son of the founder. 

He told the court that while spending a quiet evening, alone, in his home in Mirabel Que., — located about 45 minutes north of Montreal — a stranger reportedly knocked on his door asking for help.

He said he left his home, and that's when the person pointed a gun at him and ordered him to lie on the ground.

"I hesitated. In my head [I'm thinking] this can't be happening, what is this?" Tsouflidis said.

According to him, two other assailants got out of a vehicle, entered his home and came out with a safe that contained $3,000 in cash.

"You're the one we want," the kidnappers told Tsouflidis, according to his court testimony.

After they tied his hands behind his back, they picked him up "like a piece of wood and put [him] in the trunk head first," Tsouflidis said.

Even though he was searched, Tsouflidis managed to keep his cell phone. After untying himself, he was able to call 911 from the trunk of the moving car.

"I'm in a trunk, I'm being kidnapped. My name is Nicholas Tsouflidis," he can be heard telling the dispatcher, in the 911 call recording presented in court.

He told the dispatacher he was the president of Cora and asked emergency services to follow his cell phone signal.

Tsouflidis told the court that his captors asked him for the phone number of his mother, Cora Tsouflidou, the founder of the restaurant chain.

"[That's when] I understood they knew who I was," he said.