Days after she reported that she was drugged and brutally raped by three men, the Mahdia woman yesterday made a report with Georgetown police following dissatisfaction with their counterparts in the interior community.
The decision to make a report with the Georgetown police came after the victim’s friend was reportedly forced out of the police station’s compound shortly after they had made a report and both women had felt decidedly uncomfortable with the interior police.
In an interview with Stabroek News, Simona Broomes, President of the Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO), explained that the time spent with the police yesterday was “comfortable” and highly commendable. “It was different from what I read about the police in Mahdia,” Broomes said. “There was a vast difference. The Crime Chief [Leslie James] was very professional. I sat there and I observed everything,” she added.
Broomes had made contact with the woman’s friend and learnt that they wanted to come out of the area due to extreme fear. However, they had no money and had been forced to return to a camp. Broomes arranged transportation and took them to a police station in the city. “It is really sad to me because to go through that and then have to return to that environment, that camp,” Broomes said.
Though she was very hesitant to speak, the young complainant said that she had indeed felt comfortable while giving her statement about her ordeal yesterday.
“Oftentimes when they [the police] don’t do their job I report that so when they do a good job I say so. Especially with the victim, they were very patient, they were very slow. Although she travelled out today [Friday] and was tired, there wasn’t any hectic rush or anything so… I noticed that when she opened up with them and I know the reason she opened up to them is that she felt comfortable,” Broomes observed.
Despite their comfort with Georgetown police, the victim and her co-worker, who had been supporting her the victim since the beginning of the incident, are nevertheless fearful that justice will not prevail.
According to the friend, one of the perpetrators had indicated that he had “connections” and “had the police on his payroll.” She added that the man and his family would still harass them by calling and had done so up to Thursday evening.
However, last night’s response from the police has left Broomes feeling hopeful that there will be an investigation and a file will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
“We will keep in touch with the police. I’m comfortable so far and I’m believing in my mind that at least the matter will be investigated,” Broomes said. She went on, “The Crime Chief asked us to keep in touch and I am sure that they will hear from the police. We just have to wait and allow the police to do their part.”
Traumatised
Both the victim and her friend expressed shock at the entire ordeal and said that it had been completely unexpected. Neither of them had ever felt uncomfortable with any of the accused rapists, they said.
“That’s the thing that freak me out!” the friend exclaimed. “These are people that we eat and drink with; these are people that we sit and have conversations with… they’re like brothers and friends and fathers to us. So when I hear they do that… I would expect that from strangers on the road but not people you live with in the same yard and you see every day.”
She further emphasised that the men were ones tasked with protecting the women employed with the business. According to her, the girls would make reports to all three men if they ever felt harassed, disrespected or simply off.
“If we don’t like how a man look at us, they are there to see that no disrespect or nothing happen to you,” the friend explained.
“The same people that are supposed to be protecting us were the ones to attack her,” she added with a shake of her head.
The young victim is still traumatised and is suffering from nightmares and sleepless nights. She related that she would sometimes wake out of her sleep, questioning why the attack had happened to her.
She is positive that she was drugged, as shortly after one of the attackers poured her a drink she recalled having cold sweats and feeling numb.
The man has offered her a settlement. However, the young woman is insistent on taking the matter to court.
“They does want say Amerindian girls can’t go nowhere, that they stupid so I just want her to talk out that we ain’t stupid and that we ain’t gonna sit down and take nonsense,” her friend further said.
Broomes, along with the victim and her friend, are mulling the next avenue available to them. They hope to seek assistance from the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs as well as access counselling for the victim.
“We are committed to being there with them; we’re not just here for a night but the entire process. It’s something that we’ll continue to highlight and we’ll support these type of victims,” Broomes said. “The appropriate help that they need, we will ensure that they get that.”
Though the young complainant was reluctant about saying anything, her friend was much more vocal. “We’re grateful for all the help she [Broomes] has given us because if it wasn’t for her it wouldn’t be possible for we to be here today,” she said. She continued, “Because I ain’t got no help from nowhere else to see that my friend get justice and I tell myself that she has to get justice as a woman, as a friend, as a mother. I wouldn’t want that to happen to me or anybody else; how I see she that morning.”
