NIS launches probe into sexual molestation of battered wife

Jun 01, 2018 News

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– promises to fast-track  claims

The National Insurance Scheme [NIS] officer at the centre of a sexual molestation allegation might have just exhausted his ‘nine lives’.
This is in light of reports that the man, who is accused of coercing a client of the Brickdam, Georgetown NIS office to have sexual relations with him in order to fast-track her death benefits claim, was already upbraided for previous indictments.
There have been rumours that the officer could be sent packing once an investigation substantiates the claims of the alleged victim.
Reports suggest that the said officer, while stationed at another NIS office, was at the centre of another sexual harassment probe.
In yesterday’s edition of this newspaper it was reported that the NIS client in question, one Shameeza Mohamed, was for close to a year deceived by the said officer who’d assured her that he was processing her claim.
According to the woman, she endured an abusive relationship for years which even saw her being dealt several life-threatening stab wounds at the hands of her reputed husband who passed away in November of 2013. The woman had shared a 17-year long relationship with the man. She only last year learnt that she was eligible to make a death benefit claim.
But it was only Wednesday that the woman learnt for the first time that she was nowhere close to accessing her claim after trying for a year.
Angered by the development, the woman decided to share the ordeal she endured at the hands of the officer.
On learning of the dilemma detailed in the pages of this newspaper, this publication learnt that NIS General Manager, Ms. Holly Greaves, made contact with the woman to hear her concerns and has since launched an investigation. Additionally, the woman has been assured that she will be afforded her claim as early as next week.
According to Mohamed, she first filed her claim with NIS at the beginning of last year. Her first meeting at the Brickdam, Georgetown office, she recalled, was with a female officer who she remembers as “very friendly”. While the male officer [the officer under investigation] was just as friendly, the woman recalled that his ‘friendliness’ quickly reached another level.
“First thing he did was ask me for my phone number and asked if I on Whatsapp or Facebook, and I said I don’t know anything about that. He asked me if I would mind if he text me…”
Believing that the man required her number to advance her claim, the woman obliged. It didn’t take long for her to realise that the man had other intentions.
The woman, who showed this publication a series of text messages which substantiated her claims of the NIS officer, revealed that although she did not appreciate many of the texts, and told the officer as much, she kept hoping that the benefits would be processed because of her financial need.
“I was glad to know somebody helping me out, but he started telling me things suh out of the way that I didn’t like it. He was asking me things like ‘would you like a man to make love to you?’ He asked me how much years me and me husband tek up, and I tell he since I was 13, and he kept telling me I gon get through [with the benefits] but I need some good loving. He started calling me at nights and ask me what kind underwear I got on…” Mohamed recounted.
The woman recalled that on one occasion too, the man asked her to accompany him to a restaurant to complete some paperwork. “I had to ask he why we had to do paperwork outside he office, but he tell me he had to go to a mechanic shop and didn’t want to hold up me paperwork,” Mohamed recalled.
According to Mohamed, the man also asked if she was hungry and volunteered to buy her lunch, but she declined.
Mohamed said that although the man had suggested that becoming sexually involved with him would have helped to fast-track her claim, she was convinced that he was genuinely doing what was necessary to get it done.
“He advised me that I needed to get one of the witnesses to do another statement because it was not done right…I had to get two witnesses to say that I live for 17 years with me husband so I could claim for the benefit,” explained Mohamed.
Reliant on the man to help process her claim, Mohamed said that even when she had to change phone numbers because of a password issue, she ensured that she furnished him with a new number. The man, the woman said, assured her that her claim would soon be available. This was about one week ago.
But things came to a head last week when the man informed her that he was required to be on leave because of a fractured arm, and therefore was not in a position to personally handle her claim anymore.
However, Mohamed said that she was startled when she learnt Wednesday from another officer who started dealing with her claim that it wasn’t even possible for it to be completed anytime soon.
“I started to behave ‘bad’ in NIS [office] because after all this time, and all I had to hear from this man and I still can’t get nothing process. He keep fooling me and say everything okay but nothing was ever okay, all this time,” said Mohamed, as she scrolled the many text messages in her phone from the NIS officer who up to Wednesday, by way of a telephone call, continued to assure her that he will urge his supervisor to process the claim.
The text messages have been shared with the NIS General Manager and are expected to serve as part of the ongoing investigation.

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