Abused Penal mother cries for help

STACY MOORE

“PLEASE help me, I don’t want to die. I can’t take it anymore,” was the emotional cry for help yesterday by a Penal mother of one who said she endured almost four years of physical abuse at the hands of a 47-year-old male relative. With nowhere else to turn for help, Gail Harripersad,44, decided to make a public plea to the authorities to rescue her from the hands of a “demon” before it is too late.

In tears, Harripersad spoke with Newsday saying she no longer wanted to feel like a prisoner in her Ramcharan Trace home. “He threatens every day to kill me. I want to live. I want to sleep comfortably at nights. I want to see my daughter graduate from university,” Harripersad said.

On Monday night, with the assistance of her daughter Abigail Coldero, she broke her silence and shared her story in post via Facebook. The post has since been shared over 4,000 times. Harripersad told Newsday yesterday that last year the physical abuse increased drastically. She was hospitalised on three occasions with injuries to her face, head, chest and eyes. Last year November, Harripersaid said, she received what she described as “one of the worst beatings”.

“On that day I was walking near the bedroom. He grabbed me by my neck and pushed me to the ground and then began stamping on my chest. As I lay on the ground, he came over me and began to cuff me to the face. I cried out for him to stop and he said he wanted me dead.” Harripersad said her face was swollen for weeks and she could not see during that time. She said she went to the Penal police station on several occasions to report the incident, but to date the abuser has not been arrested. “I am fed up. I don’t know who else to turn to for help, but I knew If I didn’t speak out now. I would end up dead.”

Coldero, a student at the University of the West Indies, told Newsday she lives everyday fearful that any day would be her mother’s last day. She said it was sad to know that reports were made to the police, but were never taken seriously. Penal police officers confirmed reports were made to the police station.