also the case update HERE
A young woman was allegedly chopped by her neighbour just over a month ago, and has, since then, been spending most of her time away from her apartment with friends and relatives, because she no longer feels safe at home.
She told the Jamaica Observer in a recent interview that it is apparent something is wrong, she just does not know what.
Questioned as to whether there was any truth to the assumptions, she responded: "But me being a lesbian or not being a lesbian has nothing to do with me being chopped and that's what this is about. My sexuality has nothing to do with it, whether or not I am straight or gay, people can assume; I have nothing to say, no comment on that."
The victim told the Sunday Observer that the matter should now be before the courts, but she is questioning whether it is a situation where her case is being stalled, because when she turned up for the initial December 12 court date, she found out that there was no case file.
The situation came to a head on November 21, according to the victim, when she was involved in a tussle with her neighbour, after which she received chop wounds.
She related that everything started on November 16. She said she got into a scuffle with her housemate, who is also her business partner, after which she turned the music in her apartment on. The victim told the Sunday Observer that she heard banging on her door and when she opened it, her neighbour from the apartment in front of hers was standing there.
She said her neighbour complained that her music was too loud, so she turned it off. She said about 15 minutes later, the security guard for the compound knocked on her door and told her that a complaint was made about her music. She said that she then left the apartment and went for a walk, only to return sometime later and was told that the police had also visited her apartment.
"Nothing happened on Monday. Tuesday evening, usually after work I have school. I wasn't feeling well, so I decided that I was going to wait at work a little bit, until my business partner was finished working; we also work for the same company, that's how we got into business together," she explained.
She told the Sunday Observer that when she eventually got to her apartment, which is on the third floor of the compound's fifth block, she was greeted by a high-smelling substance.
"So I reach for the light and I am slipping at the top of the staircase in front of my door, almost burst my face. I turned the light on and there is gasolene or kerosene oil in front of my door and all over the door, not sure what (substance it was), but some high-smelling substance," the victim stated. "At first, I was thinking 'what the hell', until
I noticed the matchsticks and newspaper pushed underneath the door. So, the paper burnt all the way up under the door and there were probably about six or seven matchsticks at the door."
She said by then she was furious, and contacted the landlord and property manager, as well as informed the security guard. The police were also called to the location. She told the Sunday Observer that people living on her block were also upset because their homes would also have been affected if there had been a fire.
"They were saying we need to have a meeting about what was going on," she said. "I understand that there have been some scuffles that probably the neighbours have overheard from my apartment, and my music."
She said she found the situation stressful and decided to take the remainder of the week off from work.
"So I am doing some business, working on my loan company at home, and a client comes over on Friday. As I was about to go downstairs to let him inside (the building), that's when I noticed some white, powdery substance; apparently somebody was trying to get rid of the scent of the kerosene oil or gasolene, so they had poured some powder-like substance on the handle of the door, on the door, in front of the door.
"So I am trying to push the key into the door and there is now a barrier. I can't lock my door to go anywhere now, so if I have to leave my apartment I have to leave my door open. Now, I am a businesswoman, I have my files all up in my house, not to mention my furniture, my electronics, I can't leave my house open. I am worse upset more than ever," said the victim.
She said that up to that point, no one had heard her 'go off' and things just kept on happening. She said that she went downstairs and spoke to the security guard as well as contacted the property manager who told her the matter would be looked into.
She said she was so upset she contacted one of her friends, who is a police officer, who advised her to contact the police.
"I was on my way upstairs and I was so upset I got to my door and I hit my door three times and was like, 'what the hell is all of this? Mi tyad a this, anybody messing with me need to stop it'," she explained, adding that she might have said an expletive in the process.
According to the victim, it was while she was inside her apartment with her client that she heard talking outside her door. She said she opened her door and saw her neighbour speaking to the security guard.
"My door is ajar at this time. My client is in my house. I head towards my kitchen to get some water," she stated. "About two minutes or so, drinking some water doing whatever I am doing... And I hear talking inside my living room.
"This woman is on her phone and she is screaming at me in my kitchen, and she is in my living room," she shared. "So I am like, 'what the hell, what are you doing in my house, get out my house'. The security (guard) was outside my door, just standing there. So, I went over to my door, still with the bottle in my hand because I was shocked.
"I was walking over to her and the woman grabbed me in my chest, inside my living room, tore my shirt down the middle," she continued. "My first response was to throw the bottle, it caught the security on the shoulder, he was standing behind her.
"A fight started and I kicked her out my house... mi never inna nuh fighting mood, is a bigger woman for me, so I am not going to fight her like that, or the way she wanted me to fight her; granted I did hit her back when she hit me," the victim related.
She said she eventually got control of the situation and told the security guard to hold onto her neighbour. By this time, she said her client, who was inside her house, came outside to see what was happening.
"So the security is holding her and pulling her, but she is pulling me, so it's two people pulling me," she explained, adding that she asked her client to hold onto her. She said her client managed to pull her inside her apartment but the neighbour ran up to the door and they had to brace it in order to lock it.
According to the victim, she later heard banging on her door but by this time she had already contacted her landlord and the police.
"I had spoken to the police before, so at this point the fight was done. I had not got injured or anything; we fought, I had a few scratches, she tore off my shirt, but it was done," she insisted.
"I called the police because I wanted them to come and see what was going on at my door, I was tired of it. She put her hands on me, came into my house and started a fight," she continued.
She said when her landlord, who was coming from Harbour View, got to the compound, some time later, this was when she decided to unlock her door and exit her apartment.
"My client comes out ahead of me, I change my clothes and she is standing over there talking to the security guard, cool and calm as ever," the victim recounted. "And as I exit my door, she reaches for something on her little side table, obviously it was there before, and I just saw her coming and before I could think, my first instinct was to run.
"My client started to run and I started to run and as I entered probably about the first two staircases, I heard the security yell out and I turned around to see her coming down with a cleaver, a chopper... she chop me and it was straight underneath my boob, about a four-/five-inch chop on the left side, and I moved my arm and she chopped me in the back of my neck," she continued to relate. "And she was still swinging and I just ran down the stairs.
"All I know is that I am downstairs and I am feeling warm," she recounted.
She said that the police took some time to get to the location but that when they got there, her neighbour allegedly related another story of the incident.
"So that's how I got chopped. An incident that started on Sunday and ended on Friday, and I did not provoke this woman or trouble this woman any at all," the victim insisted.
She said that when she went to court on December 12, she learnt that there was no case file.
"She was not served a summons to come to court, I was informed after going over to the police station to try to get the file, that there has to be a summons issued. But I am wondering, how does she know of the court date and 10:00 am for the time, how do I know about it, if there was no summons?" She questioned initially. "If proper protocol was not followed, how are we aware of all of these things and what happened to the file?"
The case file has since been found and, according to the victim, attempts are now being made to serve her neighbour with a summons.
"I don't understand what I did to this woman for her to feel like she had the right to come into my house... My mindset is out of place, I wake up at 1:00 or 2:00 am in pain," she disclosed. "I look over my shoulder every sound I hear, she doesn't understand what she has done to me."
She is adamant that she will not stop until she gets some justice.
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