Masimba Sampson, the prison officer accused of brutalising his wife two days before Christmas, appeared at the Bartica Magistrate’s Court on Thursday charged with attempted murder and he was released on bail.
Sampson was charged with attempted murder and damage to property and was released on $100,000 and $40,000 bail for each charge, respectively. It is alleged that on December 23, 2012, Sampson attempted to murder his wife, Stephanie Sampson.
Stephanie, a 22-year-old nurse attached to the Bartica Hospital, told Stabroek News that she was not aware that her husband was taken to court until the day of the matter and at the same time, she was at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court as they were scheduled to go to court in relation to a protection order she had taken out against him.
“The police tell me I shoulda be there but they didn’t tell me (of the date of his appearance),” she said. Stephanie said that she was not satisfied with the amount of bail that her husband was released on and does not feel safe.
Sampson has been interdicted from duty since the incident, Director of Prisons Dale Erskine had confirmed.
Last month, Stephanie told Stabroek News that the authorities are not moving fast enough to charge her husband and she wanted the process to be sped up because she felt unsafe. She said the violent attack on December 23 at the Mazaruni Prison left Sampson fearful for her life and barely able to use her hands. “When I ask anybody, they say he is military, so it takes time,” she had told Stabroek News.
Sampson’s throat was slashed, she was stabbed six times in the left breast, once to the right breast, one time in her left arm and she also sustained several cuts on her hands as she tried to fend off the knife used in the attack. The matter was reported to the Bartica Police Station but the man was released on $75,000 station bail and since then someone claiming to be his cousin has sent menacing text messages to her, she had also said.
Sampson and her husband, who were married for eight months, lived in the compound of the Mazaruni Prison, where the assault occurred.
