News surfaced recently regarding a young Amerindian woman who said she was drugged and raped by more than one man at the hotel where she worked in Mahdia, Region Eight. Photographs taken by a friend revealed a series of contusions on the woman’s body, from her neck to her calves, which she had no recollection of sustaining causing her to surmise that she had been brutalised. She recalled to this newspaper that she was conscious of non-consensual sex being performed on her but that she lacked the ability to fight back, which she was convinced pointed to her being drugged.
The young woman, accompanied by a friend, had gone to the police at Mahdia the next day to make a report. She had erred in having had a shower, since this would have served to wash away vital physical evidence. But it became irrelevant since, having made the complaint, she quickly came to the realisation that there was no chance of her gaining even an iota of justice as long as the allegation resided in Mahdia.
She and her friend took a decision to travel to the city to lodge a complaint and they sought out anti-Trafficking in Persons (TIP) activist Simona Broomes, who agreed to assist them. Though the instant case has nothing to do with TIP, Mrs Broomes, who is also the Head of the Guyana Women Miners Organisation is gaining a reputation for championing the rights of women, particularly those vulnerable to abuse and discrimination.
They were facilitated at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Eve Leary, where Mrs Broomes was pleased to say later, she was impressed by the professionalism shown. However, before the approach to CID was made, a report had already been carried in this newspaper, where the alleged rape survivor recounted her ordeal and expressed disappointment in the way the police in that jurisdiction had dealt with the matter.
It is well known that all of the daily newspapers are required reading for the police. The Police Public Relations Office is usually quick to respond to statements made in articles and letters involving the police. And while we are not by any means advocating that the police administration should have jumped on the case based on the newspaper article, it should be noted that the details which would have been repeated by the young woman at Eve Leary were already out there.
The accuser, Mrs Broomes and anyone else with an interest in this matter could be forgiven for assuming that an investigation would have been launched, not just into the rape allegations, but also into the attitude of the police officers at Mahdia who had taken the original report. Instead, as this newspaper learned when it contacted the police last weekend, there was no rape investigation underway. In fact, Commander of ‘F’ Division Courtney Ramsey said that the police had already sent the file to the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and had been advised that one man be charged with assault causing actual bodily harm. Whether that person has since been charged is not known at this time.
What we do know is that the reluctance by the police in Mahdia to investigate was coloured by the fact that there was an assumption that the young woman was drunk at the time of the alleged assault since she had reportedly confessed to drinking “Red Bull and Hennessy” all night.
Mr Ramsey had been quoted by this newspaper as saying, “The woman never said she was raped; she said she had sex with some boyfriend or something like that, and that when he left the room another man come in and he like assault her, bite she up on her body…”
The complainant refuted this, noting that what she did say to the police at Mahdia was exactly what she had said earlier—that she was aware of the man having sex with her but was unable to stop him because of the state she was in. According to the Sexual Offences Act 2010, “Consent and belief in consent cannot be inferred by – (a) reason of silence or lack of physical resistance on the part of the complainant…”
The Mahdia police, in refusing to investigate whether the complainant had in fact been drugged or plied with alcohol to render her incapable of physical resistance, would have sent prejudiced information to the DPP, who could only advise charges based on what is in the file in front of her. The result is that the complainant is now in danger of being raped by the system. There is need for a thorough investigation starting from the events at Mahdia. There is need too for the police to deal with facts, not opinion and for the force administration to deal condignly with departures from professionalism among officers.
