(Jamaica Observer) Barbadian police on Friday charged two of their colleagues who have been accused of sexually assaulting a Jamaican woman while in their custody in late February.
The two — Constable Jonathan Barrow, 32, of Pasture Road, Haggatt Hall, St Michael, and Woman Constable Melanie Denny, 25, of No 40 Golden Mile, St Peter — were pointed out in identification parades earlier this week.
Barrow is charged with serious indecency, while Denny is facing a charge of aiding and abetting. The two, members of the Royal Barbados Police Force, were charged on Wednesday night and brought before the District ‘A’ Magistrate’s Court on Friday. Both were granted bail in the sum of Bd$5,000 and were ordered to return to court on September 1.
Another policeman who allegedly raped the woman is still to be arrested.
On Friday, the father of the 27-year-old complainant greeted news of the arrest with indifference. “That can’t bring back my daughter’s dignity which they defiled. I would like things to move forward so what can be done, be done,” the man, his voice trembling with rage, said.
The woman’s mother told the Observer that her relatives had no idea what had become of their daughter and were taken aback when weeks later they got a “mysterious call” informing them that her daughter was jailed in Barbados. “We reported her missing on February 27. We never know what was what,” she said.
The complainant’s mother, who requested anonymity to protect the identity of her daughter, said prison officials in Barbados confirmed that her daughter was indeed in custody but never allowed her to speak to her child.
She said she only spoke to her child briefly on April 1, more than a month after she had been locked up.
“They allowed us to talk to her only once and she cried out over the phone that she had been raped,” the woman said. The complainant was arrested at the Grantley Adams International Airport after customs officials allegedly found about four pounds of ganja in a secret compartment in her luggage. She was found guilty and sentenced to 15 months in prison.
The alleged sexual abuse happened while the woman was being held in lock-ups on the night of her arrest. She accused Barrow of forcing her to perform oral sex on him and Denny of opening the lock to the cell she occupied and allowing another cop, who is yet to be identified, and Barrow of having their way with her.
