High-ranking Region Three official arrested on sexual assault allegations

July 3, 2013, By KNews, Filed Under News, Source

A high-ranking official of the Region Three Democratic Council was arrested by police yesterday after a 37-year-old mother of three accused him of sexually assaulting her.

The woman, an employee at one of the Region’s Finance offices, alleged that the man fondled her breasts and had made repeated sexual advances towards her ever since his arrival in the region a year ago.

The woman said that she decided to take the matter to the police last Friday after repeated complaints to other senior Regional Officials proved useless.

Kaieteur News understands that the accused official was detained at his office but was released on station bail after promising to provide investigators with a written statement. Efforts by this newspaper to contact him yesterday were unsuccessful. Calls to Regional Chairman Julius Faerber went unanswered.

The woman told this newspaper yesterday that the sexual advances started early last year when the official joined the Regional Administration in a senior capacity. She said that in April 2012, the official made his first advance with some very unprofessional remarks.

“He said to me, ‘you only talking about work and not about sex’. I was surprised and I complained to the Chief Accountant, and she said to be careful,” the woman told this newspaper in an exclusive interview.

It continued in December last year, she said, when the official came to her desk and again uttered some unprofessional remarks and again she rebuffed him.

“I told him that I don’t want anything from him.”

Again she complained to her supervisor and again she was warned to be careful.

According to the woman, two months ago, her divorce was finalized and she had to approach the official so that her file would reflect her change of name. This she believes caused the official to step up his advances, sensing that she was now a single woman, and was now “available”.

“He told me that I am ‘back in the runnings’ and that we had ‘unfinished business’. I walked away.”

She said that on June 18, last, she had cause to go to the official’s office to get a voucher signed and it was there where she alleged the “real sexual assault” occurred. According to the woman, the official invited her to sit in a chair and as he was passing her, he took his “Right hand and placed it on my left side breast.’ I froze and he said, ‘you are due’.”

The advances were becoming unbearable and despite the repeated complaints made by the woman, nothing was being done by the senior regional authority.

Realizing that he was getting nowhere with his advances, the official turned to intimidating tactics.

The woman said that last week Monday she was passing by the official’s car after returning from an appointment outside of the workplace and he questioned her about permission to leave the office. The woman walked away after informing him that she did not use the workplace’s time.

Her response angered the official. “He said ‘don’t walk away from me. If you does walk away from people, don’t walk away from me’,” the woman recalled.

A few days later she was passing the official along a stairway in the office building and he deliberately blocked her path.

“I stood there, trying to avoid him. When he eventually passed me, he told me that my ‘time pass long’. I went to the Principal Personnel Officer and he said it was a serious situation, and nothing more. I went to the Deputy REO (Regional Executive Officer) and complained; he just said it was a serious allegation. I urged him to tell (name given) that I had complained about him and I don’t need his attention and he must get off my back,” the woman explained.

The woman claimed that two days passed (Tuesday and Wednesday) and still the Deputy Regional Executive Officer did not convey the message to her alleged sexual molester.

She said things got more unbearable last Thursday at around 16:15 hours, when the official went to her desk and began touching her bag and her umbrella.

“I got up and removed. Other people saw what he did. Then I was so frustrated because no one was doing anything.”

Her last resort was to go to the police last Friday where she gave a detailed statement of what had transpired.  She has also informed her union, the Guyana Public Service Union, which is actively dealing with the matter.

This newspaper tried to contact GPSU President Patrick Yarde, but was unsuccessful.

“I haven’t been keeping it a secret. I have been telling everyone that matters, but no one was doing anything. It is like if he (the official) is God. Everybody is afraid of him. So I had to stand up for myself,” the woman stated.

Police have confirmed that the official was briefly detained and later released on $20,000 bail. He has denied all the allegations.