Plea for legal aid for 20-year-old who chopped off abusive man’s hand

RELATIVES of the 20-year -old woman who is in police custody for chopping off the hand of a male relative in Barrackpore during a domestic dispute last Friday, is seeking legal aid for her.

Her sister told Newsday on Sunday, she has no idea if the young woman has been charged or for what crime. She said the police are not giving them any information, neither does the family know where she is being detained.

She said their situation is really pitiful as all three are related. She said they urgently need the counsel of an attorney to assist them as they are not in a financial position to afford one.

Police said they will consult with the Director of Public Prosecutions before laying charges.

In the meantime, the 58-year-old woman she was defending was admitted to the San Fernando General Hospital on Saturday for lacerations to her head, and injuries to her throat, hip, face and back.

The woman complained of feeling unwell after she was beaten by a man with an iron chair at her Barrackpore home. She was taken to the Princes Town District facility by ambulance on Saturday and transferred to the San Fernando hospital where she is warded.

Also warded at the hospital is her 61-year-old attacker whose hand was severed from his left wrist. He also suffered two chop wounds to his right arm.

Doctors were unable to reattach the hand due to the time it remained in the open air. However, they have treated the wounds and the man is said to be in a stable condition.

Last Friday, the victim was at her home when she was attacked by a man against whom she has a restraining order. She said she has been a victim of abuse for over 40 years, which caused her six daughters to leave her home

Unable to accept the constant blows whenever her abuser was intoxicated, she said she took out a restraining order in 2022 against him. She said in that incident, she was so badly brutalised with a broom handle, she ended up in the hospital.

She said the restraining order has not stopped the assault and during one of the episodes on Friday, her cries for help attracted a young female relative who came to her rescue.

Had it not been for the young woman who at first attempted to get the man to stop his assault, the woman said she would have been dead.