OPHELIA Abrahams, a west Kingston resident who said she suffered torture at the hands of members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), says she’s happy, after being found not guilty last week for a list of charges that had been mounted against her.

Abrahams was charged with assault occasioning bodily harm, unlawful wounding, stone throwing, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, indecent language, and using threatening, calumnious language.

The charges stemmed from a 2019 incident in which she was beaten by the police. She said her hair was ripped from her scalp, and that, as a result of trying to shield herself from blows, her fingernail scraped a policewoman in the face. That action sparked the assault charge. Abrahams was subsequently arrested, and claimed that she was ridiculed by numerous members of the JCF before being charged.

Now, even though she is elated about being freed of the charges, she explained that she is fearful for her life.

“When I heard the judge speak on the result, I felt great, but after reaching home, I began to feel fearful. I have to be watching out for my life,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

The incident in question took place on May 15, 2019.

She told the Observer that on the day, she was at her house and heard commotion on the ground floor of the high-rise building she lives on in Denham Town. According to her, she “cracked the window to see what was going on”. She said when she looked through the window, she saw police downstairs and they said something to her. Abrahams explained that she did not hear what the police said and instead of engaging them, she closed her window and went back into her room.

She said things got ugly from there.

“I went back in my room to lie down and a couple minutes after I heard the grille pull. When I opened my room door and came out I saw the hinges of the front door partially off. I asked them what the reason was for this. I asked why they kicked off my door and if they had a warrant. I was a bit loud, but I didn’t use any expletives. The female police slapped me in my face… She was making a second attempt and I put up my hand. To how close we were to each other, my fingernail scratched her in her face,” Abrahams claimed.

“Here came the other four police, kicking and pushing me down. One of them in particular put me to stand up, told me to hold my hands in the air, and he kicked away my feet which caused me to drop and hit my head. They were beating up on me and I started to call out to my then-six year old son for him to come out of his room. When he came out one of the police pushed him back into the room. The female police was throwing licks while each of the other police stood on my legs and my arms,” Abrahams alleged.

She claimed that the female cop was on top of her, beating her in the face. She said she was forced to protect herself and had to use one of her hands to shield her face.

“Maybe if I didn’t do that I would have lost a few teeth or something. I rolled and rolled until I ended up on my belly and that was when the female held on to my hair and ripped it from the scalp. Even when I was telling her that I was going to urinate on myself, she just ripped the hair from the scalp. It was torture. I ran outside for rescue,” she said.

“I had on brassiere and underwear. The female was holding on to my brassiere so I didn’t get to go outside. I worked myself out of her grip and ended up outside in my underwear alone. I sat on the step and held on to the railing and she was kicking me and telling me to let go off the railing and go back inside the house. The lady never stopped kicking me until she kicked me off the steps. I took all the licks,” she alleged, claiming that the policewoman threatened to shoot her because of the scratch in her face.

“When I went over to the Zone of Special Operations base, everybody who passed was videotaping me and saying that I was the gyal who tried to beat the police dem. They called me madwoman. I couldn’t walk on my own, to how they beat me. The judge read their medical report and he read mine as well and he stated that there was a valid explanation regarding the scratch that was in the police officer’s face, but no one had given him an explanation on how I got bruised. The judge didn’t need glasses to see that something was wrong.”

In a report from the South East Regional Health Authority dated November 25, 2019, the consultant medic noted the hair pulled from Abrahams’ scalp, causing severe traction alopaecia. The medical report noted that Abrahams had multiple discolourations of the skin, and lesions and abrasions all over her body.

Mikael Lorne, Abrahams’ attorney, told the Observer that his client was falsely imprisoned, maliciously prosecuted, and was subjected to assault and battery as well as a breach of her constitutional rights.

“She was the victim of some advanced level of cruelty. She was brutalised. To compound the problem, they actually turned around and gave her seven charges to which she had to attend court to defend them all by way of trial. The police attempted to say they were victims. Notwithstanding their brutality, they actually approached the court to say that this slim young lady was actually the perpetrator attacking three to four police at one time. The evidence was heard by the judge who came to the conclusion that there was nothing of the sort,” Lorne said.

“It is sad when a civilian is at home and her home is invaded by the police and this callous act was done to her. It is not a true representation of the police force, but there are several members of the force who act in such high-handed and unnecessary way, especially against the more vulnerable of society. We will pursue it until Miss Abrahams is properly compensated,” Lorne said.