It has been more than two weeks since a route 42 minibus sped off with a female city constable hanging on to its side and the driver, an off duty policeman, is yet to be charged.
Patricia Depeazer, 47, the injured city constable, told Stabroek News yesterday that she is worried about whether she will get justice. It is has been 16 days, according to her, since she suffered a gash to her thigh and fractured her leg in two places and still police have not taken action against the driver of the minibus.
On Monday, Depeazer said, she endured the pain in her leg and visited the Brickdam Police Station where she spoke with the Sergeant in charge. The man, she reported, told her that the case file had been forwarded to the Director of Public Prosections (DPP). Without directions from the DPP, Depeazer said the policeman told her, they would be unable to proceed with instituting charges against the off duty cop responsible for her injuries.
Last week, the woman explained, she had visited the DPP office to enquire about whether they had received a file from the police. The woman said that this first check was made after her superior, the Chief Constable, informed her that he had been told by police that the file had been sent off the to DPP. “Imagine how surprised I was on Monday when I showed up at the police station and they telling me how the file gone to the DPP when I already know that the file wasn’t with them,” an upset Depeazer told Stabroek News.
After her conversation with the station sergeant on Monday, Depeazer said, she returned to the DPP office where she was informed for a second time that the file was not with them. “I feel they are trying to push around me and delay this matter because this man is a black clothes police,” she said.
On the afternoon of November 22, Depeazer approached a minibus which was illegally parked on Brickdam (between Cornhill and Water streets). She later discovered that the conductress of that bus was unlicensed and as she asked the woman to report to the constabulary office the driver of the minibus, the off duty cop, confronted Depeazer and started to verbally abuse her.
He then pushed her and shoved the sliding passenger door of the vehicle.
The man, she further alleged, then returned to his seat and “pulled off”. It was then, Depeazer said, the minibus door came rushing the rest of the way, slammed against her right leg and her skirt was caught. The woman was forced to hang on to the bus as it sped away.
Depeazer was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) that night and she received several stitches to the gash on her right thigh and later, after an x-ray, it was discovered that her leg was fractured in two places. “My foot is still in cast and I am in a lot of pain,” Depeazer said.
The woman further explained that since the accident she has not been able to work. At her last visit to GPH she said she was given 10 additional days of sick leave and has been advised by the doctor that she will not be able to put much strain on the leg for some time.
Her job, Depeazer said, is her sole means of support and she will have to make claims from the National Insurance Scheme for pay on the days she has been unable to work. With the holiday season just around the corner, Depeazer said that she will not be too happy because she is dependent on relatives to do most things for her. “Imagine all I was doing was executing my duty, executing my duty and that man did this to me…I will not let this matter rest. I need to have justice and he shouldn’t get off just because he is a policeman,” Depeazer said.
