A woman is claiming that four armed police officers attached to the Central Police Station in New Amsterdam beat her up in her home and left her with a broken left hand.
Audrey Cummings is pleading for help and wants the four officers to be brought to justice.
When contacted yesterday by Stabroek News, Berbice Commander Deryck Josiah stated that he was not aware of such an incident. “…I have no information; no police break nobody hand,” he said, adding that if “she made a report, it would be investigated”. Efforts to reach the Crime Chief, the Police Complaints Desk and Eve Leary all proved unsuccessful.
The woman related that on Saturday, June 23, at around 9pm, her home at Lot 20 St John Street was invaded by the four policemen, who she said declared that they wanted to “search for guns, ammunition and narcotics.” Once they entered her home and discovered that she was locked in her bedroom, the men allegedly kicked down the door and entered the woman’s room while she was attired in her sleep wear, dragged her out of the bedroom and began to “assault me verbally and physically.”
“They then came in to the hall and when they saw I was in my bedroom, in my nightgown, they kicked down my bedroom door, too and they came in and one, he pulled me off my bed by my hair and took me out in the hallway and they braced me up on the wall and they got this cadet officer, he took a cow pistle and started to hit me on my leg, branding it up and then he lashed me on my hand and it broke,” Cummings said.
“It was a terrorising ordeal that seemed to have gone on forever and I was referred… [by many] derogatory names. I was beaten severely by all four … and they ransacked my home,” she added. The woman also accused the policemen of stealing $60,000, which she had in a purse.
After the three-hour ordeal, Cummings was taken to the Central Police Station, where they then summoned a female officer, who placed her on a chair and started to search her private parts for drugs. Not finding anything, the woman was then charged with disorderly conduct and locked up. During this time, she was experiencing immense pain, since her hand was broken and her calls for medical attention were ignored. The next morning, Sunday, she said that a Sergeant came by and asked her what had happened. She related to him and he immediately ordered the woman to be examined by a doctor and given a medical certificate.
At the hospital, her hand was placed in a cast and she was given medication for pain, before she was returned to the station, where she was put on $5,000 station bail.
Cummings related to Stabroek News that the ordeal has really taken a toll on her, especially since she has nobody to help her and no real idea what to do. She has explored and exhausted all possible avenues to explain and engage higher authorities concerning her matter but all have seemingly failed. She made a complaint to the Police Complaints Desk at Central Police Station and they took her statement. She has heard nothing from them since. She was being tossed and sent back and forth, she claimed, by the Deputy Commander and Crime Chief. She said she also visited the Eve Leary headquarters in Georgetown but was unable to see anyone regarding the matter. Efforts to have an audience with Commander of ‘B’ Division, Josiah have also proven futile.
Additionally, her medical certificate was subsequently seized by the police after she collected it from the hospital. “My medical is lodged at the New Amsterdam Hospital and I was told that only the police could uplift it,” she said, adding that since the ordeal, she has been responsible for her medical expenses and is finding it hard.
Cummings revealed that currently, she has a matter in the local court, regarding a charge for being in possession of narcotics, which she denied ever being found with. Nevertheless, she said the actions of the four officers were inexcusable and, therefore, she wants justice.
“Please help me against the victimisation I endured. I am a female, scarred, wounded and traumatised and victimised and I am pleading because as a woman/victim, I don’t know what to do,” she said. She stated, too, that under normal circumstances, she would have sought help from the police and the law, “but I cannot turn to them; they are the ones that abused me.”
