Dear Editor,
As a widow operating a business at Maria’s Lodge, Essequibo Coast, I had to suffer the indignity of being incarcerated at the Suddie Police Station for 9 hours for no justifiable reason.
I was sent for, and just pushed in the shop door with the expectation of returning in a jiffy, but surprisingly, a demand was made for me to pay fifty thousand dollars for damage done to a police vehicle.
The driver was said to have been involved in an accident on the Zorg public road during the night some two miles away from my home located at the same business premises.
After refusing to pay the money, I was placed behind bars from 11 am to 8 pm in an unbearable stinking cell with my shop and some other things, including copra put to dry, left insecure.
It was very unfair to me being a law-abiding citizen, and moreso a single woman to be treated like a criminal, having regard to the fact that the animal involved in the accident did not belong to me, and this was later verified by the police.
Despite being pressured from an abuse of authority while in custody to pay the money – something that is detrimental to society − I did not budge during the period of wrongful imprisonment.
Yours faithfully,
Eserdai Dhanpaul
Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to the Commissioner of Police (ag), Mr Henry Greene, for any comments he might wish to make.