Police probe Top Cop rape allegation

Dec 14, 2011 News

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–    accuser was previously fingered in $2M blackmail scheme

In what could turn out to be the scandal of the year, police are probing a report from a 34-year-old woman that she was raped by an officer in the top echelons of the Guyana Police Force.
The woman who hails from the East Coast of Demerara made the report to police at the Brickdam Station yesterday afternoon in the presence of attorney at law Nigel Hughes.
She is alleging that she was forced to have sex with the senior officer after she was induced with cash and a promise to assist her in a matter that is presently engaging the attention of the police.
The officer in question has dismissed the woman’s claims as mere allegations and has vowed to clear his name.
The woman, who spoke to media operatives shortly before reporting the matter officially to the police, spoke about receiving threats to her life if she ever went public with the allegations.

This she said resulted in her only making the public disclosure more than two weeks after the alleged incident.
She said that she was so overwhelmed and could no longer live with her conscience so she decided to reveal details of the alleged ordeal.
The woman stated that she had sought the assistance of the senior police official in a matter concerning an investigation involving her husband and a policeman and his wife.
Just over a month ago this newspaper had reported that the woman was detained by the police on the East Coast of Demerara in connection with an alleged blackmail plot after she had video recorded her husband and another woman in a compromising position in an East Coast Demerara hotel room.
At that time the police were probing whether or not she had used the video to extort money from her husband’s secret lover.
A few days later she had made allegations that the other woman’s husband, who happens to be a policeman stationed in Berbice had sexually molested her.
It was these matters which the police were investigating that led to her seeking the help of the high ranking police officer.
The woman told the media that she was frustrated with the pace of the investigations, since the police had taken possession of her cellular phone, which contained some very important telephone numbers in it, and she sought help.
She contacted the office of the high ranking officer via telephone and secured an appointment to meet with him.
On November 15 she met with the officer and he made enquiries about the blackmail and sexual assault investigations.
She was subsequently sent away by the officer who promised to look further into the matter.
The woman said that she returned to the officer on November 22 and sat in his office and explained her position in detail.
“I talking to him and he’s telling me his problem, how he was married before and had two children, he divorce and all kinds of things. So I’m sitting there, my children home hungry, I come for my problem and you’re telling me your problem…he was making a mockery out of things,” she said.
She added that she did indicate her financial plight to which the officer said he could help.
“He went down into his drawer and took out some money and he giving it to me. I said ‘Sir, I can’t take your money’. He said ‘Maam listen, take this money, l don’t like to hear about children hungry, I love to help out’,” she explained.
Knowing that her children were indeed in need at home, she eventually took the money.
The officer then promised to have her cellular phone returned to her and subsequently gave her his business card with a written cellular phone number at the back, and urged her to call him if she did not hear from him after a certain time.
“He said don’t give nobody this card, only the government know this number,” the woman stated.
Later that afternoon, the officer contacted her and invited her to meet with him at Eve Leary, since he had collected her cellular phone and wanted to hand it over.
When she turned up she was made to wait at the Police Officers’ Mess for several hours until the officer was finished with a pre-arranged meeting.
She said that after waiting for almost two hours she made an attempt to leave but was advised by another officer to wait a bit longer.
When the officer emerged from his meeting at around 21:00 hours, the woman asked him about her phone and he told her that he had to go over to his office for it.
“I told him that it was getting late and I need to get home. But he said ‘don’t worry I would drop you home’ I didn’t think anything negative.”
But the woman said that instead of walking over to his office, the officer offered her a ride in his vehicle and drove past his office and headed towards the heart of the city.
She recalled that the officer drove her to an area in Charlestown despite her protestations, where he took her into a secluded hotel, where a man opened the gate for the cop to drive in with his vehicle.
She said that she enquired from the police officer if he was living at the location and he said no.
The woman said that she did not see anyone else after then.
“He turned his vehicle off and said ‘Get out! Get out!’ I say ‘Get out to go where?’ and he said, ‘Wait man you’re a very naive women, you don’t live in Guyana, you think people does give money so free. Get out of this car girl’,” the woman recalled.
She said that she started to cry and the senior cop donned a black cap in an apparent move to disguise himself.
According to her, the officer went into the vehicle’s glove compartment and took out a gun which he kept waving as he was ordering her out of the vehicle.
He took care not to point it directly at the woman.
Eventually the policeman came around and opened the door on her side and since she was afraid of the weapon he was waving, she reluctantly exited the vehicle after he made a strange demand.
“He said, ‘oh you don’t want to come out of the vehicle, furthermore give me back my money, you find it back, I want it right now.’ I know I already spent the money, I don’t have it. I start crying,” the woman said, adding that she eventually exited the vehicle and went into a room which was opened by the senior cop himself.
She was ordered to take off her clothes by the cop who was still holding his gun in his hand, even as he hurriedly took off his.
The woman said that she tried to run but the police officer grabbed her and slapped her rendering her unconscious for a brief period.
She said when she regained consciousness, her pants was already ripped down and the cop was on top of her, putting on a condom.
The woman told members of the media that the officer stayed on top of her for a long while, holding her throat to prevent her from screaming.
It was only when his cellular phone rang that he stopped the alleged assault.
She said that she was in so much pain that she remained in the bed while the cop wrapped the condom in a piece of tissue and put it in his pocket.
Eventually she summoned the courage to get up, especially since the officer threatened to repeat his act, this time “from the back”.
Minutes later she dressed herself and they both left the hotel.
“When we were leaving, he started to talk to me like if we were lovers,” the woman said.
It was around midnight when they left the hotel and they went to Regent Street where the officer bought chowmein and pepperpot for her before taking her home.
“He start threatening me. He said ‘listen if you try go to any doctor, I will know. I got strings all over Guyana.”
The woman said that she was extremely afraid, especially since she considered the threat seriously.
Every day after that, the senior cop kept calling her and reminding her about his threat, which she said caused her to be reluctant to reveal what had happened, to anyone.
One week later she went to a doctor on the East Bank of Demerara for a medical examination.
She said that the doctor upon hearing who she was speaking about declined to look at her.
However when contacted, the doctor who could not immediately recall the matter, eventually told this newspaper that he could not look at the woman since he had ceased being a government medical officer earlier this year.
Additionally, he said, the woman was not accompanied by a female police ranks as is normally required when rape cases are being dealt with.
“Anybody who comes with a police matter I now refer them to Diamond or the Georgetown Hospital, and besides she did not come with a female police rank,” the doctor explained.
According to the woman, the doctor however called her and informed her that he had spoken to a friend, who was in a position to assist her.
She said that that person turned out to be another senior officer who told her that he would arrange for her to meet with a senior functionary at the Office of the President who would look into the matter.
However she declined to take up the offer since the person insisted that she went alone.
She subsequently was seen by another doctor, who gave her some treatment for what she claimed was an infection caused by the condoms.
The woman has kept all the text message conversations she had with the police officer as well as records of all the calls he made to her phone, which she showed to members of the media.
The last call was as recent as last week.
She said that she eventually told her husband what happened.
“I cannot even tell you what he said to me.”
Later, she and her attorney went to the Brickdam Police Station where a formal report was made.
When contacted the officer said that the woman was making wild accusations although he admitted that the she did come to him for help.
He said however that while he could easily deny the allegations he would prefer that all queries be directed to his attorney.

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