The Tribune

A WOMAN is once again living in fear after a man who made death threats against her is back in the neighbourhood after having been arrested on allegedly incontrovertible evidence of drug dealing.

The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said following her report to officers, who she now suspects are corrupt, the man threatened he would kill her for reporting him to the police.

He was later detained and charged after the woman complained to senior officers, but this weekend she discovered the man is back on the streets, possibly on bail.

Despite being promised a new house and witness protection, the woman says she is still in the neighbourhood and feels she is in great danger.

“I was away last week and I came home last night and heard him. I called the superintendent this morning and he was not aware, but he said it’s very likely that he got bail,” she said.

The superintendent promised he would look into the matter, explaining that it was likely he got a lawyer who went before the judge again and got him bail.

“I was disappointed that I had not heard anything from them (police) since – if he was released somebody should have let me know.

“I asked him about the charges, the threats that he made against me, but they didn’t pursue them. And I’m thinking had they attached that to the other charges then maybe bail wouldn’t have been so easy.

“He’s next door now – I wasn’t as concerned because he was in jail – now he’s next door. I lay in my bed and I hear him... They didn’t even pursue the charges of the threats that he made against me.”

The woman reported to police several weeks ago that the neighbour was selling drugs from the front yard of his home.

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Red flags arose a short time later over the officers’ integrity, she said, when the neighbour threatened he would kill her for reporting him to the police.

“The guy is out there and he starts cursing me saying that I was the ‘b----’ who reported him to police. ‘The police can’t do anything with me’ he said. He told me to stay out of his way or else I would die.

“I will ‘f---’ you up, is what he told me.”

The man was eventually taken into custody after police, who had accompanied her to her home, themselves observed a drug deal going down.

However, she said, the man’s family members then threatened her with death.

On at least two other occasions, she said, conversations were overheard in which the neighbour’s family insisted that an officer told him that she was the informant and that thousands would again have to be spent to “bribe the police” to have him released.

“The daddy said ‘this is going to cost me a good $2,000 or $3,000 to bribe somebody to get him out and I just had to do this last week’,” she claimed.

The woman said she had previously contacted police with her fears in the wake of the threats, stating that she was “scared to go home.” However, she was told that she could go to a hotel, a family member, or have the police escort her home.

She then sought an assurance of protection from Commissioner Ellison Greenslade who told her that the matter would be rectified.

“The Commissioner asked if I felt I needed to move, I said ‘yes’ and he said that I should begin looking and get back to him.” He told her to find something very nice, she recalled.

However, the woman said she was later told by an assistant to the commissioner that the RBPF could only assist her with the first and last month’s rent for an apartment. However, she felt that offer would not support her comfortable living conditions as she was already living in her own home and could not afford to pay rent for another home.

The woman feels that local authorities have failed to ensure the safety, not only of herself, but of her children.

“This community policing thing, yes they say it works, but when it puts someone’s life in danger then what? I did what I thought I was supposed to do. It just so happened that the officers who took my call were dirty cops. And that puts my life in danger and I’m out there on my own,” she said.