A nursing student who is a member of the disabled community has alleged an unprovoked attack by a “vile” Route 11 ZR conductor who had been drinking, leaving her with what she said is a long-term brain injury and fearing for her and her disabled daughter’s safety and concerned about the treatment of disabled people on public transport.
Days after the alleged attacker smashed a beer bottle on her head, he warned her against going to the police and remained free to go about his business while she wrestled with the consequences of the assault more than two months ago, she told Barbados TODAY.
Tamsin King recounted the events that led to the alleged attack on Thursday, July 2. The route taxi was one she usually saw but normally avoided because of the musical content and behaviour of the driver and conductor, she said, but in her rush to get to her daughter quickly, she boarded it.
King said: “I was wearing my nurse’s uniform, so it’s clear that I’m a nurse, and I’ve previously seen that conductor before… On this occasion, the music wasn’t playing, but it was still the same conductor and driver. I got on, gave the conductor the money, the $3.50 change, and I said thank you. But he was drinking alcohol from a Guinness bottle, this is the other thing and I thought, ‘Oh dear’, but I thought, let me just hurry and I’ll get to my daughter soon.
“He then said to the driver: ‘Watch this. I don’t like her. The next thing I know, he struck me in the head with the glass bottle and a woman who sat behind me screamed out: ‘Stop the bus, let me off.’ The driver then came to a halt. I was holding my head, and I staggered out after her. I literally staggered off this van; nobody said anything. The woman ran, like she got up and she ran, so I couldn’t even ask her for a witness statement.”
King said that, even with the injury and in pain, she composed herself and went on to collect her daughter, who was already waiting. But as the night progressed, her pain increased.
“Early hours of that morning now, I woke up with severe pain where he had hit me in the head. There was swelling; I felt like there was paralysis on the side of my face. I got up, and I took the maximum amount of painkillers.”
The pain became increasingly intense, forcing her to seek treatment in hospital.
“I ended up in QEH because the pain was just too much and it was getting worse. The doctor confirmed that there was swelling in the top of my head that matched what I described, like it was a glass bottle stuck in my head because he said there was swelling and the scalp was still red.”
She visited Oistins Police Station on the following Monday to report the incident and was given a police medical report form to be filled in by a doctor, she said.
After repeated visits to hospital for intense pain, she was informed that she was suffering from a brain injury.
In tears, King continued: “This vile person, for no reason; he’s clearly aware that I have a disabled child. Yes, I have an overseas accent, but my parents are both Bajan, and I work with children with disabilities, and I do all I can to help children with autism and disabilities, and because of this vile monster now they said it could take months or even years or not at all for me to be back to normal.”
Since the incident, King said her family had been very concerned about her safety and well-being, while the alleged attacker continues to ply his South Coast route.
“My family was so concerned for the safety of me and my daughter… because this man has not been imprisoned.”
Police Public Affairs and Communications Officer Inspector Ryan Brathwaite told Barbados TODAY: “A statement was recorded from the complainant; the matter is under investigation. We will bring it to a conclusion very soon.”
But King’s fears have only increased after the conductor allegedly issued her a warning five days after the attack, she said.
“When I finished my shift on July 7 at around 3:30 p.m. in Maxwell, [the] ZR van stopped, the conductor got out, and he yelled at me: ‘Don’t make trouble for me.’
The nursing student raised concerns that, as a woman, healthcare worker and member of the disabled community, she was an easy target for those who sought to exploit vulnerable people.
“How many of them think it’s acceptable that women are attacked by people with disabilities? How many people has he done it to before? I don’t want anybody else suffering like this; I’m approaching 50. What if it was an older person or a younger person?”
King said the incident has seriously affected her life and livelihood.
“I’ve got a brain injury and I’ve got the reports from the doctors, and I’ve got follow-up hospital visits. It’s affected my life. I’ve got my nursing exam coming up, and the doctor said I’m gonna have to write a note for you to ask if you can have any allowances, so this is affecting my career.”
The president of the Barbados Council for the Disabled, Patricia Padmore-Blackman, said there should be zero tolerance for targeted attacks on disabled people and urged better education about the human rights and protection of disabled people.
“They have the right to travel on public transport, they have the right to shop, they have the right to do all the other things that ‘normal persons’ do. We are not excluded, we should be included in all aspects of this society.”
Padmore-Blackman said she was concerned that not enough was being done to address negative attitudes and ignorance towards people with disabilities.
“One of the things that needs to be done is more widespread sensitivity training for persons. I know that Barbados Council [for the Disabled], this is one of the hallmarks of the services of the council and we do this wherever possible, in our quest to get a more inclusive and understanding society.”
She added: “The Barbados Council for the Disabled stands behind any intervention to deal with this practice. We don’t want it to be the norm where persons with disabilities, irrespective of what their challenge is, have to undergo any kind of ill treatment or anything like that within our community or within our public spaces.”
(LG)
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