The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

THE Grand Bahama Human Rights Association has questioned whether a Jamaican woman, who was arrested by police, was targeted by the authorities because of an ongoing rape case and civil suit.

According to police reports, the Selective Enforcement Team went to a nightclub on East Street near East West Highway around 2am on Saturday and arrested 11 women from Jamaica on suspicion of solicitation for prostitution and breach of the Immigration Act.

However, a source close to the matter confirmed to The Tribune that one of the women is the complainant who made an allegation against a senior immigration officer and that Saturday’s incident was not what it seemed.

The Tribune understands that the women were all released without charge last night.

Speaking to the events that occurred over the weekend on the condition of anonymity to avoid victimisation, the source said that the woman “suspected she was being followed for some time now and that’s why she just sat at the bar.”

“It was a private club you know? And no one expected anything bad to happen. And it’s like the moment she went into the bar, all hell break loose,” the source said.

“One of the females insisted on stopping at the bar so when they entered they saw music videos on the TV screen and people were dancing having a good time so they stayed to have a good time. There was a room upstairs that people were coming in and out of that appeared to be a private birthday party.”

The source said not long afterwards “people were running screaming like someone came in with a gun.”

The source also told The Tribune that the women ran from police because they were afraid, not because they were doing anything illegal.

On Saturday, the GBHRA issued a statement expressing concern that the female complainant could be released to the custody of “the very agency in whose custody she was (allegedly) raped and assaulted.”

“The woman is married to a Bahamian man and has legal status in the country,” the statement added. “There is absolutely no lawful justification for her detention.”

The alleged sexual assault is supposed to have occurred when the 28-year-old woman was released into the custody of an immigration officer on December 15, 2014.

The matter has since proceeded by a preliminary inquiry in Magistrate’s Court.

In February, the woman filed a civil suit against the government seeking damages for alleged battery, assault, false imprisonment and the breach of her constitutional rights.

In her claim, the woman describes a crowded and filthy detention centre with menstruating females left to bleed out on the floors and with no sanitary napkins or washing facilities.

The woman has sought at least $1m in damages.