When Mary Fletcher showed the Sangre Grande police the picture of the cutlass a male relative sent her via WhatsApp, along with a threatening voice note, she expected he would receive more than a warning.
“In the recording, he (the relative) said anywhere I go he promises that he will find me and kill me. He said you can’t hide from me, I does be all over the place.”
However, she claimed all the officers did was contact him via cell phone and tell him to refrain from calling her.
He didn’t.
“He told me he go give me some bullets in my head and that a restraining order cannot save me, that is just a piece of paper.”
Fletcher spoke to Guardian Media at a discrete location about her experience in an abusive relationship, saying she was influenced to do so by the several cases which have been in the public domain recently.
The 23-year-old, along with her two children, ages two and three, fled their home to hide from the relative.
“He even threatened to burn down our home with the children in it.”
Fletcher said she no longer takes threats lightly.
“Look what happened to Omatie Deobarran, that could happen to me.”
Fletcher produced two Citizen Report Receipts which showed that she made a police report to the police on September 27, 2021 and another on October 26, 2021.
“When I went the first time, I made sure and showed them the evidence and the officer up to now, did not look at my phone or listen to any of the voice notes. When I went in October, they said the only option I can give you is to take out a protection order and it’s still mouth-to-mouth threats.”
Fletcher bemoaned that there was no further assistance in applying for the protection order and she needed to beg a friend to help her.
But she said the biggest betrayal of the system was when she was promised that her information would be forwarded to the T&T Police Service’s Gender-Based Violence Unit (GBVU).
“It’s more than three months and nobody has contacted me up to now, I still waiting, he could kill me any minute.”
It’s why Fletcher turned to Facebook to share her story. It was shared thousands of times. Many Facebook users offered their sympathies, while some questioned if the young mother was putting her life in further danger. However, she said she needed to be heard.
“Enough is enough, I have to come out and talk, if anything happens to me, he is fully responsible.”
Fletcher believes the TTPS could do more for women like her.
“They didn’t even give me a paper to go and get a medical or anything like that when he choked me in September, they just gave me a receipt and that’s it.”
Guardian Media reached out to the GBVU and was told to send all questions through the Corporate Communications Division.
In the meantime, Fletcher’s information was passed on to the unit and a promise was made that it would be dealt with.
As Guardian Media returned Fletcher and her two children to the home they are hiding in, Fletcher expressed hope that this story would bring about some change.
“I hiding like I kill somebody because you don’t know when he will come or if he will find me, I just want to live my life like everybody else.”
