Simona Broomes’s arrest suggests vindictiveness – GHRA

Sep 04, 2013 News

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– Trotman does not expect client to be charged

The recent arrest of Simona Broomes  over assault and robbery allegations leveled against her by a businesswoman remanded for human trafficking, suggests that the police force is now available to perpetrate acts of vindictiveness to disrupt the course of justice.
This is according to the Executive Committee of the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) in a press statement yesterday. Broomes is Guyana’s international Trafficking In Persons (TIP) hero.

The Committee, in a statement, questioned whether the arrest is harassment reflective of an industry beyond the reach of law.
Last month, a woman remanded for human trafficking, accused Broomes, President of Guyana Women Miners’ Organization (GWMO), of assaulting her and stealing a six-ounce gold chain. The assault and robbery allegedly took place in April at Puruni, where the businesswoman and her husband intercepted Broomes, members of GWMO and four TIP victims, who were rescued about one hour earlier from the businesswoman’s shop at Tiger Creek.
Broomes, who was assaulted in that incident, subsequently reported the matter to Georgetown police.
The businesswoman did not report the matter until months after. And, on August 26, Broomes, was detained for about four hours before being released on $10,000 station bail and was instructed to return to Eve Leary on September 6.
According to the Committee, “The GHRA is very alarmed by the implications of this new incident against Ms. Broomes, particularly the extent to which it suggests that the GPF (Guyana Police Force) is now available to perpetrate acts of vindictiveness to disrupt the course of justice”.
The Committee said, “The absurd defence of police actions by the Head of CID, Mr. Seelall Persaud, as reported in the Stabroek News, only serves to reinforce the perception of a Police Force deeply confused about professional standards, penetrated by the politically and financially well-connected and adrift with respect to leadership”.
On Monday, Broomes accompanied by Attorney-at-Law, Raphael Trotman, submitted a formal complaint to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack. This course of action was taken at the invitation contained in the DPP’s article in the media for Broomes to submit a formal statement to her office.
Apparently, the DPP was responding to a letter written by a Non-Governmental Organization calling for the DPP chamber and police to investigate the matter. The DPP had pointed out that her chamber does not investigate but she would request the file and review the matter.
According to the DPP office, following the submission of the complaint by Broomes the DPP requested the file from the police. The file has not yet reached the DPP chamber since there is a process to follow.

Trotman does not expect Broomes to be charged for assault and robbery. However, if Broomes were charged Trotman is prepared to defend her innocence. He said that this matter is very straightforward and shows the anger of a woman remanded for human trafficking.
He added that the police did not follow correct procedures when they arrested his client. Trotman explained that reading Broomes her rights and detaining her on the prisoner’s bench was inappropriate. Such actions are done at the end of investigations and not at the beginning, he added. Trotman said one could only conclude that the motive was to intimidate Broomes.
Trotman said that the police should be thankful to Broomes and members of GWMO for their efforts to protect women and children and should offer protection in light of the risks involved, particularly in Guyana’s hinterland where security is limited.
GHRA made reference to several criminal activities and malpractices that occur in mining districts, where GWMO is working to expand opportunities for women and rescuing persons from the sex trade.
The Committee said, “Accustomed to ‘fixing’ everyone in authority, operators in the industry would have taken for granted that the court cases brought mainly against shopkeepers for trafficking would have been quietly forgotten.”
The body said that the recent sentencing of two interior shopkeepers each to five years for human trafficking seems to have disturbed the marabunta nest and spurred the action against Broomes.
In August, a husband and wife, who trafficked four teenage girls in Oko Backdam, Region Seven, were found guilty. Broomes was instrumental in rescuing the teenagers in April 2012.
According to the Committee, “This particular incident provides a glimpse of the impunity and lawlessness that permeate the mining industry from top to bottom. Mining circles are rife with stories of bribes demanded and paid to secure licences, permits, exemptions, circumventing laws, regulations and routine requirements of any description.”
The jaw-dropping size of the sums allegedly changing hands at the upper-reaches only underlines the extent of the hopelessness of the task facing the rank-and-file police and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) enforcement officers.”

According to the GPF in a press release yesterday, “The incident is alleged to have occurred on April 21, 2013, at Puruni. However the victim of the alleged assault, Ms. Ann Marie Carter, had been evading the police since then until her arrest in August, 2013, because of her involvement in the trafficking in person matter.”
Apparently, upon being arrested Carter alleged that she was brutally assaulted by Broomes and other persons in her company. Carter’s allegations were supported by a medical report and by eyewitnesses, the police said.
According to the police, Broomes was subsequently interviewed by the police and placed on bail. The investigations are continuing as the police are making efforts to contact the other persons who were with Broomes on the day in question.
The police said that reports in the media including the statement made by the GHRA display a lot of reckless and unsubstantiated pronouncements being made that seek to vilify the police without knowledge of the facts.
“The Guyana Police Force wishes to state that its approach in meeting its responsibilities to the people of Guyana is to take a professional stance. In such an approach, it is required to investigate all complaints made by all persons”, the release said.
The police stated, “In keeping with this, false allegations have also been investigated and at the conclusion, in cases where sufficient evidence was gathered, persons making the false allegations were charged criminally for doing so”.
The police said that its actions have been in keeping with professionalism and are not bent on intimidation or intended to place any blemish on Broomes’s record and her reputation, as is being peddled in some sections of the media.

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