Human rights activist Sherlina Nageer says reports that Zenita Nicholson was turned away from the Providence Police Station, where she had gone to make a report of domestic violence, is evidence that many of those in uniform still lack concern for victims and their rights.
“It [the police system] has failed her like it has failed so many other people,” Nageer told Stabroek News yesterday, while stressing that the news of the runaround faced by Nicholson, who succumbed after ingesting poison last Monday, has left her feeling angry.
It was Nicholson’s close friend and fellow rights activist Joel Simpson who told Stabroek News hours after her death that the mother of two had gone to make a report at the station but was instead referred to the Ruimveldt station.
The rationale for the referral was apparently based on the fact that Nicholson and her spouse, against whom she was seeking to make the complaint, lived at D’Aguiar Park, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Ruimveldt Police Station.
When questioned on the reported handling of the case at the Providence station, Divisional Commander Clifton Hicken told Stabroek News that he had inquired about it but the officers under his command told him that they did not know anything about it. He said in light of this newspaper’s inquiry, he will instruct that another check be made.
“We have zero tolerance for domestic violence,” Hicken said, while stressing that the Guyana Police Force has “no compromise” when it comes to such reports.
When a report is made, Hicken noted, the police will go and get the accused and proceed to bring a charge against them to court. He stressed that a domestic violence report can be made at any police station and once that report is taken ranks will treat with it immediately.
Nageer, speaking generally, noted that the police need to stop giving victims the “runaround.” She said she is aware of similar bureaucracy in the handling of rape cases, where victims have gone to the police station in the area where the offence was allegedly committed only to be told that they have to report it in the area where they live, even if it is located miles away. “It’s completely asinine and shows a total lack of concern towards victim’s rights. Police at any station a victim reaches to make a complaint, should be able to record the statement and just pass on to the other station,” she said.
Addressing the reported handling of Nicholson’s case, Nageer said she could not comprehend why police could not take a report and pass it on to the relevant police station subsequently. She stressed that the police are the “first responders in critical situations. If they [the victims] don’t get help there it is discouraging.”
According to her, even in this 21st century the country’s justice system “is still incredibly backwards.” She said that police at all stations must do their job, respect the victim and actually try to assist them, instead of giving them “the runaround.”
Simpson had told Stabroek News that Nicholson did confide in him about a week prior to her suicide that she was being abused and he had encouraged her to report it. He recalled receiving a message from her two Sundays ago about wanting to move out urgently and the following day she confided that her live-in partner was being abusive. Nicholson had been living with the man since February and Simpson said from what she shared there was a pattern of abuse.
The two lived at D’Aguiar Park and Nicholson had indicated that she would have moved back into her South Ruimveldt home. Simpson said he encouraged her to report the abuse and she did confide that she had gone to Providence Police Station but was sent to Ruimveldt Police Station.
Simpson was unsure whether she followed up with the report at the second station but he said Nicholson later told him that she had spoken to her partner’s brother about it and he had instructed her partner to remove from the home.
Simpson said Nicholson told him she would have remained in the home until her house in South Ruimveldt was repaired. When they spoke subsequently, Nicholson assured him that all was fine.
Following Nicholson’s death last Monday, Simpson said another mutual friend indicated that she had reported that her partner had been counselled and that they were working things out. The friend attempted to dissuade her but she appeared to be in a good frame of mind and said all was well.
Police refusing to take statements from domestic violence victims, particularly women, has been a long standing problem. Following the deaths of several women at the hands of violent partners relatives have often highlighted the indifference of police when attempts were made to report the abuse.
The hierarchy of the police force subsequently took up the issue. Ranks received training to deal with domestic violence cases and were urged to treat this sensitive issue with urgency and care. Late former police commissioner Henry Greene had made it clear that a report can be made at any police station and he reprimanded ranks who chose to do otherwise. Greene’s position was that a person could make a report at any police station where they feel comfortable, even if it is outside of the area where they live or where the crime had occurred. Ranks are to take the report and forward same to the relevant police stations, he had said.
