What really going on in this blasted place boy??
Trinidad Express Newspaper National News of Trinidad and Tobago
Print this article
Naked rape victim claims station turns her away
Originally printed at
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Naked_rape_victim_claims_station_turns_her_away-134094699.htmlBy by Anna Ramdass anna.ramdass@trinidadexpress.com
November 17, 2011
A 23-year-old woman who was allegedly raped on Monday morning claimed she was further "emotionally raped" by police when she went to report the matter and was initially turned away because she was naked.
The distressed woman spoke to the Express yesterday and recounted the horrific experience.
"They (police) didn't care for my safety. They might think it's my fault I got rape, but I took a taxi like any normal person. I just got rape; I was naked, and they turned me away from the police station and didn't help me because I was naked," said the woman.
She said on Monday evening after work, she went to a casino on Tragarete Road, Port of Spain, where she stayed until 2 a.m.
"I was on Tragarete Road waiting for a taxi, and a black car came beeping its horn, and because it was so late, I got in and didn't think anything of the two men sitting in front. The car started heading to Port of Spain (downtown), but when it took a bend into Edward Street, I got scared; I told the driver I will drop off right here," said the woman.
"The man who was sitting on the passenger side in front then jumped in the back seat and grabbed my neck and tell me to keep my head down. He held me down and asked me a set of questions; where I living; how much money I have in the bank. He said if do anything, he will stab me up. He kept telling me over and over to hush," said the woman.
The woman said the driver and his accomplice took her to Lady Young Road, Morvant, in a dark trace which used to lead to a radio station.
She said both men were of African descent; the driver was dark-skinned, thick in body size and had a heavy voice, and the other man was red-skinned and had his hair in cornrows.
"They forced me out of the car, stripped me naked and the driver took me to the back of the car and raped me against the bumper. He also raped me on the ground; I was thrown on the dirt and stones and he raped me again," she said, adding the rain was falling at the time.
"They kept telling me that they will stab me up because I saw their faces, and they have to kill me," she said.
She said after the driver raped her, the second man was also about to rape her when they saw a car approaching.
The woman said she ran towards the car, and the occupants of that vehicle—a man and his girlfriend—took her to the Morvant Police Station.
"They went in and told the police that I was raped and naked in their car, and if they could come out and help me. A policeman came outside, wearing a raincoat over his uniform, and he looked at me in the back seat. He said I could not come in the police station naked; the woman asked him to give me his raincoat, and he said no, he can't do that. They end up taking me to my mother's house in Laventille; my mother brought clothes for me which I put on in their car, and they took me back to the Morvant Police Station," said the woman.
She said her mother spoke to the officers at the Morvant Police Station, one of whom then drove the alleged rape victim to the Belmont Police Station where she gave a report and was taken to the District Medical Officer for examination.
The woman urged women to be more vigilant.
She said the female companion of the good Samaritan who helped her also disclosed she, too, was a rape victim as she was raped months ago.
Contacted for a comment yesterday, Senior Superintendent in charge of the North-Eastern Division John Daniel promised to investigate the case.
Snr Supt Daniel said if such an incident had indeed occurred, "it was totally unacceptable".
The victim and her mother said they will also be filing a complaint against the officer today at the Police Complaints Authority (PCA).
The mother of the alleged rape victim said she would request Gillian Lucky, chairman of the PCA, to conduct an investigation.
"I am so upset; if it was his mother or sister, would he treat her like that? Would he turn her away and not help her? Do you know how I felt when a stranger called me and tell me that my daughter now get rape, and the police can't do nothing because she naked?" said the mother.
"My daughter is traumatised, and I cannot believe that after being raped, after suffering through something like that, the police who is supposed to protect turn her away," said the mother.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/internal?st=print&id=134094699&path=/news