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published: Tuesday | May 15, 2007
Andrea Downer, Gleaner Writer
DSP Dorrett Barrett-Latchman in a pensive mood as she recounts the details of the attack.
The man who attempted to rape Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Dorett Barrett-Latchman is someone she has known for at least 10 years. She surmised, while speaking with The Gleaner, that his intentions must have been to murder her after raping her, as he frequented her community and she could havereadily identified him.
"His whole intent must have been to rape and kill, because I cannot see for the life of me, for somebody who has known me and whom I have known over the years, what would be his whole purpose in just raping and leaving me, knowing fully well that I know him? He would have been hunted down and found. So his whole intent must have been to rape and then kill me!" she noted.
According to DSP Barrett-Latchman, she sometimes had at least two other women with her during her morning walks, but the one person whom she walked with most was overseas and she decided to go alone. She said she and her walking companions would pass the young man almost every morning without incident, even during the winter when the early morning hours were very dark.
However, despite the fact that daylight arrived earlier that morning than during winter, she thinks he may have decided to approach her because she was alone.
"Maybe this is something he had in his mind long ago, but seeing me on my own, he figured he could try a thing and get away with it," she mused as she reflected on the incident last Thursday in her office just outside Ocho Rios.
Held onto my hand
According to DSP Barrett-Latchman, the incident occurred approximately 5:40 a.m.
"It was broad, middle road, with houses on both sides. We (myself and the young man) were on the road alone at the time. I was walking on the right-hand side of the road going down, I noticed someone coming in the opposite direction," she recalled.
DSP Barrett-Latchman said that, as a rule, she never passed anyone that close, so she crossed over to the other side of the road.
However, just as they came parallel to each other, the young man crossed over to where she was and grabbed on to her.
"He suddenly switched into my path and held on to (my hand) I recognised him as somebody I know, so I said: 'Why are you holding me?' Because even though I have known him for a while, he is not someone that I talk to. I am not in the habit ofpassing and saying good morning to him," she stated.
"I tried to flash his hand off and said: 'Why are you holding me?' He came around and hugged me from the back, and I suddenly realised that this is not a joke thing! This is for real and the one morning that I (took) up my firearm and put it back down. So, I (decided that I ) would have to use what I had (to defend myself)," she continued.
"I had my dumb-bells, so I started screaming and I started to crouch to get him to crouch too, and I started beating him in the head, (meanwhile) he is trying to pull me into some bushes to the side of the road, and I decided that there is no way that you and I are going to go into any bushes this morning," she recalled with stony determination.
Slapping and chopping him
DSP Dorrett Barrett-Latchman demonstrates how she hit her attacker repeatedly in the head with her dumb-bell as she fought valiantly to prevent him from raping and killing her. - PHOTOS BY Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
DSP Barrett-Latchman said she kept fighting off her attacker and screaming for approximately 10 minutes before anyone appeared.
"All this time he is applying pressure and fondling," she said, explaining that she still had bruises she sustained during the attack, all over her upper body.
"Someone finally came out and screamed at him to let me go, and even then, he still held on to me. And when a young man came with a cutlass, he (the attacker) reached for the cutlass but I grabbed it first and started slapping and chopping (him). I was just so crazy! And then the police came and took him to the hospital."
She said the man is now in custody after being released from hospital. However, despite the fact that he did not rape her, she still feels violated and struggles with a myriad of emotions every day.
"Just yesterday morning, I sat at this very desk and just burst into tears. I feel so violated and angry that someone whom I know could approach me in that manner," she stated, her tone laced with disbelief.
"I wonder if I am being laughed at. I feel dirty. You feel used," she said candidly. "And this is why I can understand why some women don't report rapes, because you don't know if people (are) laughing at you. You don't know if people saying things about you, you don't know, you really don't know," she said her voice trailing off.
According to statistics, many rape or attempted rape victims know their attackers. A Situational Analysis of Rape in Jamaica, published by Panos Caribbean in March last year, states that, "in many cases, persons well known to the victim carry out the rape."
The report says Lorreem Macfarlane, counsellor at Woman Inc., a support group for abused women in Kingston, stated that this may be the reason many women do not report the crime. Data from the JCF indicate that 708 women were raped last year.
DSP Barrett-Latchman says she has been getting counselling to help her cope with the trauma she experienced from her near rape experience and admonishes women that while they should not cower in fear, they should be mindful of people whom they know and might be comfortable with as they could be at risk of being attacked by them.
Get over the fear
She still walks in the mornings, and she has walked alone since the incident. She revealed that sometimes she still walks the same route where the attack occurred.
"It makes no sense you run away or try to hide from things because I believe in facing and doing what you have to do, it will help you heal. You just have to get over the fear that it is not everyone who is going to come into your space will mean you harm."
However, she explained that despite her courage, she is still working on fully getting over the experience.
"I don't think counselling can do that for me, it is something that I will have to do for myself and to try to learn to trust people (again). So, staying home now is not the answer; too many women are staying home because they are scared," she stated.
DSP Barrett-Latchman does not see herself as a stereotypical victim. She said she feels anger rather than depression about the incident and is convinced that she taught her attacker a lesson.
"Whatever it is that passed through his mind that morning why he came over and attacked me, I am sure, he will not ever have those kind of feelings or urges for any woman again, unless him fool, fool bad! And I am almost sure that no other man will approach me in that manner again," she stated resolutely while hinting that she will be even more prepared to fend off any similar attack in the future. "Unless them stupid and ready to go, they not going to do it," she offered by way of explanation when pressed, her face deadly serious.
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