Mother of two continues to live in fear of neighbour

Despite repeatedly seeking help from the police and other agencies, a mother of two young children continues to live in torment after another attack on her property by a man she alleges has been violent towards her for almost a decade.{{more}}

Georgetown resident Nathalie Quashie-John spoke with SEARCHLIGHT last Wednesday, giving an account of a fire that was deliberately set at her home on the night of Sunday, November 22.

“We were all sleeping, but a noise woke my aunt up, so she get up and go out into the living room,” said Quashie-John.

“So, I get up now and check.”

With the help of her aunt, she searched the house trying to pinpoint where the noise had come from, but could not do so. Then they started to smell the faint whiff of smoke.

“So, I go back on the bed and I am there thinking that last time we had a fire that thing switch out, so suppose this is a fire again? I peep out and I ain’t see nothing. I have a house camera, so I was staring the house camera – it was 3 [minutes] past 11 – I did not see anything.”

Quashie-John said that she remained on her bed, playing games on her phone so that she would not fall asleep, because the noise had spooked her. A few minutes later, she heard a voice calling out to her, and when she answered, the person told her that her storage shed was on fire.

“A lot of people was there to out the fire… After the fire out, the police came.”

She said that when the police arrived, they discovered that apart from the damage caused by the fire, there was a broken window in one of the bedrooms which appeared to have been caused separately from the fire.

On inspection of the footage from her security cameras, the police were able to view a naked man entering her yard a few minutes before 11 p.m. However, the footage was not clear enough to give a satisfactory view of the man’s face.

Despite this, Quashie-John is convinced that, from the figure’s physical outline, it is the same neighbourhood man who has been making her life a misery.

“It’s the same guy that burn my place the last time. Naked… and you could see like he grease his skin down!”

Visibly distressed, she further recalled that the police told her that she would have to get three persons to back up her claim of who the naked man in the footage is.

However, Quashie-John said that no one in the neighbourhood is willing to do so because they fear that he will begin to harass them as well.

On August 28, 2015, SEARCHLIGHT reported that Quashie-John was living in fear of her life and that of her children, from the same neighbourhood man.

According to her, he had committed several violent acts against her, including breaking into her house, stealing money, killing her animals, and setting a previous fire to her shed.

In addition to this, he would harass her 13-year-old daughter, by making inappropriate sexual comments towards her whenever he would pass her in the street.

The mother of two criticized the police and the judicial system, explaining that a previous case she has against the man keeps getting postponed – seemingly leaving him free to continue harassing her and her family.

“I have to live with me and my children in fear… When I go to the police [in Georgetown] they end up telling me that I done go down by barracks and say they not doing their work. Even though I say that, does that give a reason for them not to go and warn this man?”

She added: “I sure the Prime Minister read that article… I sure the Opposition read it. Nobody never try get to the Georgetown Police Station to see if I am okay… nothing whatsoever!”

Quashie-John said that the situation is stressing her so much that she has lost weight and it is negatively affecting her relationship with her husband, who is sailing abroad.

Moreover, she said that this is also affecting her 13-year-old daughter, who sometimes skips school because she is so afraid to walk through the street – even though her end of term examinations are coming up.

“It’s not easy… This man will kill me, and I see he out to kill me. He does straight up tell me he will kill me, make me live in fear!

“I can’t understand this situation…. It’s really stressful.”

Quashie-John also said that she has tried to seek help from her constituency representative Montgomery Daniel, but she can’t get through to speak with him.

“I beg him for some steel just to make burglar bars, but you know how long went and I can’t even get them?”

She added: “This is really not fair… This is crazy… I just can’t understand this… Nobody ain’t doing anything!” (JSV)