BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - IN her bedroom, doing what she had done countless times before, tidying up – all the while, not knowing what was about to befall her.
That memorable Friday morning began as many others did and it was expected to bring memories of its own, but her expectations – unfortunately - more than exceeded.
“I could remember it like it was yesterday. It was a Friday morning when me and my family were at home and my mother was getting ready for work. We didn’t have school that day. While mommy was leaving to go to work, we were all on the verandah and we kissed her goodbye. At the same time, a strange individual passed us and went across the road. Little did we know we would see him again.
‘Before my mother left, she gave me some money to purchase some bread from the store. We (my siblings and I) went back into the house after my mother left and we got ready to go and purchase the bread…”
The young woman – who was then a teenager – explained that she made a decision which seemed harmless to her but was one that her attacker used to his advantage.
“On our way down, my siblings – who are all younger than I am - thought it best to splash in the water that was in the road and that disgusted me. So I turned around and went back home.
“When I got to my room, I turned on some music and began cleaning. Five minutes into that, I heard a long sound…like a loud BAM! I left my room and went into the kitchen and saw that the back door was open. It looked suspicious but I figured I didn’t lock it properly. While in the kitchen, I began preparing something for my siblings and I to eat when they would have returned from the shop. In the middle of doing that, there came a man/boy in a hoodie and a head-tie tied over his mouth, armed with a long machete.”
She told this publication that the machete-wielding individual asked, “Weh d money” and, although she was frozen with fear, she managed to tell him of a $5 she had.
The assailant then grabbed her by the neck and demanded that she lead him to it. She led him to her bedroom and gave him the money.
She said what happened next made her feel even more afraid and violated.
“He then led me to the master bedroom’s bathroom, sat me on the toilet and started rubbing my face…then he started rubbing my breasts. I asked him in fear, ‘Why are you doing this?’ And his reply was, ‘It’s not my fault.’
The confusion she experienced as a result of his statement was overruled by the trepidation which consumed her.
While the individual was fondling her, the young woman said she heard her brothers in the distance approaching and entering the yard. While her safety was on her mind, she also thought of her siblings’ and acted accordingly.
“Hearing my brothers from a distance, I thought fast and I shouted to them telling them not to come inside. While I was doing so, the person went towards the door in which my brothers would be entering and he opened the door and his and one of my siblings eyes made contact. Another of my siblings made a run for it, back through the gate and I seized the opportunity to try and escape.”
She explained that while her attacker was focussing his attention on her siblings, she tried to slip through the door where he stood but when he realised what was happening, he used the door to trap her, with half of her body remaining inside.
“He was squeezing the life out of me. But it was also my duty to protect my younger siblings. I got so mad that I pushed the door off me and towards him that it hit his head. The lash he got was so hard that he hit me on my leg with the broad side of the machete and he ran out the back door that he came through and jumped over the wall.”
This incident, SKNVibes understands, was reported to the authorities but the assailant was never caught and the psychological effects linger on even to this day.
Even as an adult, she experiences some anxiety when left alone in her home – a place which once brought her immense comfort. It is simply because she remembers being on the receiving end of the baleful plan of her attacker.
And there is that possibility – she believes – that he just might return and finish his malevolent deed.
Despite it all, she gives thanks and praise to God because the situation could have panned out far differently than it did, and she daily prays never to experience such again.
