On October 25, Roger Gautier was assaulted by a minibus driver following an accident on the East Bank Demerara and in full view of a Guyana Defence Force (GDF) rank, who sat by and watched the scenario unfold.
It has been nearly a week since then and Gautier, 36, related to Stabroek News yesterday that no course of action has been taken against the man, who, up until now, remains unknown although he had been taken into police custody.
Gautier stated that police at the Providence Police Station, which handled the matter, cannot locate his assailant and although he was supposed to have been placed on bail, it would appear he may have simply walked out of the police station. There had been no leads up until his last visit to the station on Friday. No known course of action has been taken against the GDF officer either, who it was stated, sat in the bus driven by the assailant while the episode unfolded and exited only after police arrived.
Gautier, who lost his right arm in an accident approximately eight years ago, was dealt a cuff to the jaw by the minibus driver following the incident near the Harbour Bridge, which resulted in him suffering a burst lip.
Stabroek News was made aware of the matter after a letter was sent to this newspaper by an eyewitness, Paul Fraser, who reported being threatened for standing up for the handicapped driver of the car and intervening to stop a further assault.
“…On the afternoon of October 25, 2016, at about 4:30pm, I was driving on the East Bank road, heading south on the western carriageway of the road in the lane designated by police to southbound traffic during the daily rush hour,” he starts. “As I was in front of the Harbour Bridge Mall, a mini bus, license plate #BNN 3629, which was in the lane to my right, and was northbound, bumped into the back of a car which was in front of him.”
Gautier explained that the minibus driver had collided with his car after he denied him the opportunity to cut in front of him. Gautier was driving behind his wife at the time and had been on his way to pick up his children from school. His five-year-old child was in the vehicle with him at the time.
Fraser related in the letter that the driver of the minibus after colliding with the back of Gautier’s car, exited his vehicle and proceeded to verbally and physically abuse the man, proclaiming that he was employed at the Ministry of the Presidency.
Fraser recounted the several attempts that the minibus driver made to pursue his assault on the handicapped driver.
Gautier’s young child, who broke down in tears during the incident, had to be taken away from the car.
Fraser said in his letter: “I have never witnessed road rage before today. This was road rage. It was shocking. It was equally shocking to see a uniformed GDF officer allow his driver to assault and abuse a person, a handicapped person at that. Our men and women in uniform have a special obligation to do the right thing, and set a good example. This officer did not, and in so failing to do, in my mind, hurt the credibility of the GDF, and our President, himself a retired Brigadier General.
“It is my hope that with this statement, given by myself as a true testament of what transpired, the driver of the car, who is a handicapped person, gets justice, and that the irate driver is held accountable for assault. I also believe that the uniformed GDF officer, who intentionally omitted to intervene, and by so doing condoned the actions described above, is equally guilty of assault, and should also be penalised in a fitting manner.”
