Hemwattie Louchand, the woman who claimed amnesia after a beating by a man close to her left her with a fractured skull, has taken her own discharge from the Georgetown Public Hospital although she still cannot walk or talk properly.
Sources close to Louchand, also known as ‘Lisa,’ told Stabroek News that the woman took her own discharge from the institution but had to be taken to a private hospital, where she spent a week. “But… she cannot walk properly or talk properly,” a source told Stabroek News. Reports are that the woman has seemingly severed ties with many of her friends as she has returned to the situation they were trying to help her get out of. “I tried my best, I feel angry sometimes but I tried and it feels as if my efforts just went to waste,” a friend of the woman said.
The man, according to reports, “lift up the woman and lash her down about two times” after he had already pummelled her face with his fist; he then left her lying on the ground bleeding in an unconscious state. She has been abused constantly but it was unclear if she has ever made a report to the police.
When the woman was hospitalised she told Stabroek News that she could not remember what had happened to her. Her face was black and blue and she had a front tooth missing. When asked about her injuries, she said, “I not lying I can’t remember what happen, I don’t mean to give you a hard time, I can’t remember.”
But the day before, a Stabroek News reporter saw the man who reportedly battered Louchand at her bedside. At the time, she related that she had forgiven the man after he said he was sorry and that she wanted no police story.
On the night she was beaten, Louchand’s friends contacted the police and they arrived at the home where the beating occurred and found her in an unconscious state and took her to the hospital. They also arrested the man and took him to the Providence Police Station.
However, while she was reportedly slipping in and out of consciousness her alleged abuser was released, placed on $20,000 bail and he subsequently visited the hospital on several occasions.
When Stabroek News was at her bedside a police officer had approached with the aim of taking a statement from her but she also told the officer that she could not recall what had happened.
Minister of Human Services Priya Manickchand, who had been approached by concerned relatives and friends of the woman, pointed out that had the police kept the suspect in custody following the attack he would not have been able to approach the victim while she was in hospital. She said police should have kept the man in custody to prevent him from approaching the woman, explaining that whatever the man may have told her during his visits caused the woman to claim she could not recall what happened to her. The minister was horrified at the attack and felt that it was tantamount to attempted murder and she said the police could have held on to the man just as they would a driver of a vehicle after an accident to be sure the person was going to live.
“He probably went to her and apologised and now she cannot remember what has happened,” the minister had told Stabroek News. She also noted that the fact that the woman did not want to talk could also be as a result of a lack of confidence in the system, adding that all agencies, not only her ministry, need to come together and work on the issue of domestic violence.
