By Bibi Khatoon
A 34-year-old man was taken into police custody on Wednesday, January 31, after he beat his wife several times with a piece of iron.
News Room spoke with the battered woman, Christina Totaram, who is now nursing a broken arm and other injuries to her body. Christina remains fearful that the man will go after her again.
Christina, the mother of three children from a previous marriage, is accusing the police of not taking the matter seriously.
She recounted that on January 21st, her reputed husband, Gladstone Simmons, picked her up from her place of employment, the Princess Casino, Providence, East Bank Demerara (EBD) at approximately 1am.
Totaram noted that upon entering her home a short distance away, Simmons began beating her with a piece of iron as he accused her of conversing with another man via telephone.
“He beat me with a metal iron, so after he beating me, he telling me how he get a phone call on my phone. He took the phone number and begin texting it on his Whatsapp and the person asked how was his hand where he had a fracture and I keep saying I don’t know nothing what you talking about,” Christina told News Room.
According to Christina, when she was being beaten, a male relative of her husband was in the house, but he was too scared to intervene.
After hours of beating, the woman noted that Simmons decided to call the number, only to find out it was one of his colleagues who was trying to make contact with him.
At this time, she was left nursing a broken right hand and other injuries about her body.
At that point, Christina said the man apologized and even poured half of a bottle of alcohol into her mouth while she was unable to move. He then took her to the hospital where he told doctors that she was drunk and sustained the injuries on her body from a fight.
“He say how he sorry, he start beg me…how ah did hollering, ah didn’t had voice left…he took me to the hospital and told the nurse how I went to (HJ) water world and I drink up and end up in a bad fight,” she said.
Christina told News Room that the man did not leave her alone “even for a second” to give her the opportunity to visit the police station. He also attempted to block her 16-year-old daughter from seeing her.
However, after being persistent, her daughter was able to see her and visited a friend who reported the matter to the Providence Police Station on January 27, 2018. She was relieved to see the police later visiting her home where they arrested Simmons but he managed to escape from the police vehicle. However, he was recaptured on January 31.
It is her belief that Simmons could have been recaptured earlier but when she visited the Providence Police Station to report that the suspect had returned home, the police accused her of removing the man’s belongings from the house and informed her that she needs to find his gold chain and other items.
It is often reported that matters of domestic abuse are not taken seriously by the police.
Christina admitted that she and her husband had misunderstandings in the past which led to him slapping her. She said she would often leave the abusive relationship but would return out of fear.
“He does come, he does beg me and I does go back.”
The mother of 3 is urging other women who are in her position to leave before it’s too late.
“If they get just a slap, let them just report it…this is not nice,” the woman said.
Christina is unsure if she still has her job at the Hotel, as the accused also destroyed all her medical papers which outline her injuries.
