A woman yesterday reported to the police that she was drugged and gang raped by Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) employees at the entity’s Mahdia location last Friday and her upset relatives have expressed concern at the manner in which the complaint is being dealt with.
One day after travelling to Georgetown, the woman went to CID Headquarters, Eve Leary to make a formal complaint. However, instead of being treated with empathy and professionalism, she was questioned extensively by a policewoman whose tone and body language was unprofessional, a source close to the woman said.
The 25-year-old woman spent several hours being “interrogated” by the police before she was taken to the hospital for a medical examination, the source related.
Up to late yesterday afternoon, the woman was still being examined by the doctor.
The source who accompanied the woman to file the complaint told the Stabroek News that the act was committed by four men, one of whom is a cook at the location. The woman was familiar with all of them.
He explained that the woman has relatives living at Mahdia and went to visit them. She had already been there for several days when the incident oc-curred.
Stabroek News was told that the cook invited the woman over to the location for a drink.
The source said the woman recounted to relatives that while heading into the hallway of building she passed three men. The cook met her in the hallway and offered her a beer, which she accepted.
According to the woman, sometime later she awoke to find herself in a room with the cook and the three men she had earlier seen.
One of the men was in bed with her and she was in terrible pain. The woman told relatives that she also noticed used condoms.
She said she managed to escape and informed a relative about what had transpired before boarding a minibus bound for Georgetown.
The source said that since the incident, the cook has been texting the woman, apologizing for his actions and begging for forgiveness.
The policewoman who was interviewing the woman was shown the texts, but according to the source she just glanced at them and gave no indication that she was interested in them. According to the source, it was clear that the woman was drugged as she had not even finished the drink before she lost consciousness.
He related that at the police station, the facial expression and body language displaced by the policewoman prompted him to inquire about her professionalism and this resulted in him being asked to leave.
“They were treating her more like a perpetrator than a victim. This is a specialty area. You have to have sensitivity to deal with a [rape] victim,” he said, while questioning what training ranks received to deal with such cases. During the interview, he said, the woman was in tears. “They were interrogating her rather than allowing her to tell her story,” he said.
Frustrated at the way things were going, the man said, he spoke with a government minister. He said he asked the minister whether it would be possible to have another rank take the report as he viewed the behaviour of the rank doing it as unprofessional and he was uncomfortable with how it was being handled. He said the minister called back to say that she could not tell the police how to do their job.
The man said that given his first-hand experience, he now understands why rape victims don’t want to file police reports. He expressed the view that the problem lies in the requirements needed for a person to join the Guyana Police Force. He said that a sound primary education is too low a standard and he emphasized that while there are good and professional officers in the force, they are overshadowed by ones who execute their duties in an unprofessional manner.
“This was an eye opener to what I already knew… But what you can expect of a police force that only requires a primary education to join?” he stressed.
The source said that while he has contacted two other government officials, this should not be as the standards of the force ought to be high enough to be able to meet the public’s expectations.
“Following this experience I am waiting to see how the relevant authorities will discipline these less than professional officers… To see who is held responsible and see if they continue to blame the victim who is a victim,” he said adding that if the police are serious about protecting society they have got “to do their job.”
Given the way things have started off he said that he is not confident that the perpetrators will be brought to justice.
Meanwhile a resident of Mahdia has confirmed that the GGMC has a location there with buildings which have living quarters above. The resident said that the alleged rape would more than likely have occurred in a room occupied by a staff.
