By CECILY ASSON Tuesday, February 24 2015
WEEKS after an
attorney begged police to take seriously, the cries for help from
battered women — after his client doused her cutlass-wielding ex-lover
with gas and fatally burnt him — comes the cry of another victim of
abuse, who fears her life is in danger especially since officers remain
deaf to her pleas for help.
Avien Ramsumair
yesterday told Newsday that a month after she was beaten and had a knife
placed to her throat by a male villager and despite reports made to the
Gasparillo Police, Ramsumair is still waiting on the police to act on
her cries for help.
The 35-year-old cringed as she recalled the incident in which the man placed a knife to her throat before he struck her several times in the head with the dull side of the blade. Ramsumair said she managed to free herself from her attacker and ran off.
She immediately made a report to the police. To date, her attacker remains free and what is worse, she said, are his constant threats of violence and his boasts that the police can’t do him anything.
“I hope when they (the police) do decide to act, it is not too late. I need some protection from this man who continues to threaten me because he can’t have his way. He is boldfaced too as he goes around boasting police can’t do him anything,” said the mother of six.
Ramsumair, a supervisor of Esmeralda Road, Gasparillo said the violence against her was the end result of her refusing his many advances which she said began in November.
“He wants a relationship with me and I refused. He continues to harass me and I was forced to change three phone numbers already.”
Ramsumair said at 10.30 pm on January 23, while she was walking home from a birthday party in the village — which was also attended by the man — he trailed her and then pounced from behind.
“He grabbed me by the neck and put the knife to my throat. I began to struggle with him and at that time he took the knife blade and hit me in the head three times with it. I fell and when I got up to run he hit me again,” Ramsumair said.
The incident was witnessed by her son and another villager who were walking home with her at the time. Ramsumair said she suffered a “blackout” after she managed to escape and was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital where she was kept overnight.
“When I reported the matter to the police, they told me they don’t know how to charge the man because I went to a party and they were not sure if the blackout was as a result of my partying or from the licks,” Ramsumair said.
In her quest for justice, Ramsumair said she returned days after the attack to the police station to give a statement. Since then, she claimed, there has been no follow-up by police.
the frightened woman said she has been given the runaround by police on subsequent visits to enquire why nothing has been done about her attacker.
“The investigators keep changing and I am fed up now. I even went to the San Fernando Police Station and spoke to a senior officer who promised to look into it...but still nothing.”
A senior officer at the Gasparillo Police Station, asked by Newsday why nothing has been done about the man a month after the beating, would only say the matter was still under investigation.
Ramsumair’s cries for help mirror those of Hazel Ann Daniel, 47, a mother of nine who reported her ex-lover Churchill James, to police due to his constant physical and verbal abuse towards her, with no action taken by the police.
On January 30, Daniel reported to police that James had broken a court-imposed restraining order by showing up in the yard of her Brasso Piedra Road, Brasso home. The officers did nothing.
The day after, James returned to Daniel’s home this time armed with a cutlass. At the time, Daniel was liming with a male friend from Maraval. Fearing for her life, as James was about to make his way inside the house, Daniel doused him with gas and set him on fire. He died on February 1 while warded at hospital.
After being in custody for several days, Daniel was ordered released with no charge.
Her attorney Fareed Ali, speaking subsequently with Newsday, called on police officers to respond promptly to calls for help from victims of domestic abuse and violence.
“Even if the station which a person calls, does not have a vehicle, officers could use their wireless transmission to alert officers on mobile patrol or officers from another station.
“I hope for future purposes, we do not have a repeat of instances like this one,” Ali said in that interview.
The 35-year-old cringed as she recalled the incident in which the man placed a knife to her throat before he struck her several times in the head with the dull side of the blade. Ramsumair said she managed to free herself from her attacker and ran off.
She immediately made a report to the police. To date, her attacker remains free and what is worse, she said, are his constant threats of violence and his boasts that the police can’t do him anything.
“I hope when they (the police) do decide to act, it is not too late. I need some protection from this man who continues to threaten me because he can’t have his way. He is boldfaced too as he goes around boasting police can’t do him anything,” said the mother of six.
Ramsumair, a supervisor of Esmeralda Road, Gasparillo said the violence against her was the end result of her refusing his many advances which she said began in November.
“He wants a relationship with me and I refused. He continues to harass me and I was forced to change three phone numbers already.”
Ramsumair said at 10.30 pm on January 23, while she was walking home from a birthday party in the village — which was also attended by the man — he trailed her and then pounced from behind.
“He grabbed me by the neck and put the knife to my throat. I began to struggle with him and at that time he took the knife blade and hit me in the head three times with it. I fell and when I got up to run he hit me again,” Ramsumair said.
The incident was witnessed by her son and another villager who were walking home with her at the time. Ramsumair said she suffered a “blackout” after she managed to escape and was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital where she was kept overnight.
“When I reported the matter to the police, they told me they don’t know how to charge the man because I went to a party and they were not sure if the blackout was as a result of my partying or from the licks,” Ramsumair said.
In her quest for justice, Ramsumair said she returned days after the attack to the police station to give a statement. Since then, she claimed, there has been no follow-up by police.
the frightened woman said she has been given the runaround by police on subsequent visits to enquire why nothing has been done about her attacker.
“The investigators keep changing and I am fed up now. I even went to the San Fernando Police Station and spoke to a senior officer who promised to look into it...but still nothing.”
A senior officer at the Gasparillo Police Station, asked by Newsday why nothing has been done about the man a month after the beating, would only say the matter was still under investigation.
Ramsumair’s cries for help mirror those of Hazel Ann Daniel, 47, a mother of nine who reported her ex-lover Churchill James, to police due to his constant physical and verbal abuse towards her, with no action taken by the police.
On January 30, Daniel reported to police that James had broken a court-imposed restraining order by showing up in the yard of her Brasso Piedra Road, Brasso home. The officers did nothing.
The day after, James returned to Daniel’s home this time armed with a cutlass. At the time, Daniel was liming with a male friend from Maraval. Fearing for her life, as James was about to make his way inside the house, Daniel doused him with gas and set him on fire. He died on February 1 while warded at hospital.
After being in custody for several days, Daniel was ordered released with no charge.
Her attorney Fareed Ali, speaking subsequently with Newsday, called on police officers to respond promptly to calls for help from victims of domestic abuse and violence.
“Even if the station which a person calls, does not have a vehicle, officers could use their wireless transmission to alert officers on mobile patrol or officers from another station.
“I hope for future purposes, we do not have a repeat of instances like this one,” Ali said in that interview.
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