Fear of abusive ex-lover forces woman to live in car

Jun 09, 2022 News

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By Shervin Belgrave

Kaieteur News – A 44-year-old woman has been forced to abandon the comfort of her own home and is now living in her car in order to avoid being attacked and possibly killed by an ex-lover who has been repeatedly assaulting her over the last three years.

Described as a vicious abuser, the ex-lover, Esan Lawrence, is a former murder accused, who was released from prison in 2019 after a High Court jury found him not guilty of the offence.
Since his release, he has been reportedly tormenting and physically abusing Sheron Codrington, the 44-year-old woman, whose home is located at Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara (WCD). She had managed to get a restraining order against him but on Friday last, Lawrence proved that a court order was not going to stop him from stalking the woman and showing up at her home to beat her.
In fact, he attacked her three times on Friday last – a security camera on a nearby building captured the first attack around 06:30hrs when he entered her premises. The footage shows the man, who was wearing a red jersey and a multi-coloured toque, cuffing Codrington to her head. According to the woman, the man even used a rock to beat her.
The matter was reported to the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station and after Lawrence learnt that she had lodged a report against him, he returned and assaulted her again physically.
The woman decided to head to the Leonora Police Station to report the subsequent assault but somehow Lawrence managed to elude police and launched another attack around 19:00hrs. During the third attack, Codrington said that the man threatened to take her life. Fearful that he would follow through with his threat, the woman said that she started living in her car.

Ranks finally managed to arrest Lawrence and he was taken into custody. With peace returning to her life, Codrington felt safe enough to return home.
But the peace she had for a few days was short-lived. Lawrence, this newspaper was informed, was slapped with three more assault charges and appeared in court Tuesday. During that hearing, the magistrate granted bail to Lawrence and he has been on the streets ever since. Upon receiving the news, Codrington said she has again left her home and taken up residence in her car.
Driven by frustration, the woman decided to share her story with the media. She told Kaieteur News, “Ah fed-up, I ain’t able no mo. It too much, I don’t know what more to do. Sometime ah does even think about committing suicide cause like a can’t bear it no more.”
According, to Codrington, she had met Lawrence when she was a young woman and had spent 17 years living with him.
Those years, she related, were “like living in hell.” The woman said that she wanted to leave the relationship but claimed she felt incapable of doing so because of the violence and death threats.
“I can remember one time I was walking down Regent Street and suddenly I felt something like a sharp sting, burning sensation in my back and a lady shouted out: ‘Oh my god, watch how you bleeding bad’ and when I turned around, he was right there in a corner watching me… He had stabbed me with something,” she related.
Not only was he abusive towards her but Lawrence turned out to be a known character who would be in and out of jail for robberies. He was even accused of snatching a gold chain from a patron at GuyExpo in 2012.
The following year, in September, he was once again on the police’s radar – this time for participating in a robbery at Meten-Meer-Zorg, WCD during which a father of two, Zulfikar Namdar, was shot dead.
Lawrence and six others were accused of invading Namdar’s grocery shop to commit a robbery and ended-up gunning him down.
Lawrence was eventually charged with murder and remanded to prison. For Codrington, it was a blessing in disguise. She said that it was as if her prayers had been answered and she was finally free from an abusive relationship.
The woman said that she felt free to start a new life and while Lawrence was in prison, she struck up a relationship with another man and got married. Things were peaceful for her until the High Court jury found that Lawrence was innocent of the Meten-Meer-Zorg murder allowing for him to walk free.
He reportedly found out that Codrington had moved on with her life and started to stalk and attack her.
“Sometimes he would attack me in the street, beat me up and take away all me money. He would curse me and say that I am very disrespectful to him for leaving him and starting a new relationship,” she related.
The woman even accused Lawrence of showing up at her home and attempting to attack her husband.
“My husband suffered a stroke recently and I does be fearful for him too because he is not too well, but when he (Lawrence) see him (her husband) he does tell he, I want Sheron. Where is Sheron?” Codrington said.
Friday last was no different when Lawrence showed up at her home. Lawrence, according to reports, had tried to attack the woman’s husband.
“He got stroke and I did not want he to beat him, so when I heard him calling out, I ran downstairs,” she recounted.
The move she made would result in Lawrence beating her up brutally with a rock.
Speaking with Kaieteur News about the woman’s dilemma was Region Three Police Commander, Mahendra Siwnarine.
Siwnarine confirmed that Lawrence has been repeatedly abusing the woman. His ranks, he said, have been doing their best to protect the woman from harm and would arrest Lawrence each time he attacks. However, when the matter reaches the court, he revealed, bail is always granted and there is someone ready to bail him.
Siwnarine explained that when the matter reaches the court, there is nothing that investigators can do when a magistrate grants bail. As such, he related, the only thing that his ranks can do is try to prevent another attack on the woman.

 

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