A 21-year-old American woman says she was “date drugged” by a man during her holiday in Barbados and accused police of victimising her when she made a complaint.
In a telephone interview with this newspaper, the young woman, who has since posted a viral video on Tik Tok of the traumatising experience, said several women had reached out to her to say they experienced the same thing by the same man, who is also facing a rape charge in Barbados.
Since returning to the United States a week ago, the woman said she went to a doctor to get tested and it showed traces of cocaine in the blood. However, she also believes the man spiked her drink with ecstasy as she said the symptoms she experienced such as a “lock jaw” and euphoria were consistent with ingesting an MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine).
The woman said she and her best friend came to Barbados on April 13 for a four-day vacation. It was their first visit to the island and they were inspired to come due to Barbadian popstar Rihanna. They stayed at a hotel on the south coast.
She said while lying on the beach on April 16, a man approached them and struck up a conversation. He then asked if they had seen Rihanna’s childhood house as well as other places of attraction and when they told him “no” he extended an invitation to take them there.
She said the man also told her he was a Jamaican and that he had businesses in Barbados.
They agreed to go out with him and later that day he took them to Rihanna’s house and then out to eat. He also took them to two locations of his business.
It was then he brought up the subject of taking them out that night and because they were leaving the next day they agreed to go.
When he turned up, he introduced them to a man he identified as his cousin.
“When we got into the car he said “you’re going to see a different ____ tonight,” the woman recalled, pointing out that on reflection that should have been a red flag.
It was while driving to the club that he offered them shots of alcohol and weed which she said they reluctantly took.
However, it was while at the strip club that the woman said things took a wrong turn. She said he appeared very familiar with the club and with the girls. She saw him go into a back room and emerged with a bottle, ice bucket and glasses.
“He hands me and my friend two stacks of bills. We take cheers, toast, we drink, nothing’s wrong. But then it gets to the second cup and I guess at this point, I’m starting to notice like the energy is kind of getting a little off because he’s getting a little bit more pushy. He’s like, you know, finish your cup, finish your cup, and he keeps pushing the cup in my face.
“So that’s when I’m starting to feel a little off, but you know, mind you, I never took drugs other than weed before, so I don’t know. I’m thinking maybe it’s just alcohol. I’m feeling a little more loose. My friend, I’m looking at her, she’s doing stuff that she doesn’t usually do when she goes out. But I’m like, okay, maybe she’s just having fun. So at this point, he’s still pressing us, and he’s pushing the strippers in our face. The woman said he then took them to another strip club in Christ Church along with a woman he picked up from the first strip club. It was then she noticed that her jaw was locking. “I asked the girl if they put something in our drinks because I kept chewing my jaw and she said: “Oh no, we don’t do that here in Barbados.” She said the woman then went over to him and all of them got into his vehicle to leave. It was after he dropped off the woman that he became aggressive with them. “He starts going crazy. I mean, he goes off . . . . He was going off like screaming and he kept stopping the car like, every five minutes, in the middle of the road and he keeps going off.”
She said when he arrived at their hotel she told him: “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to tell her that and he slapped her three times in her face. Her friend then asked him why he had done it and he got out of the car and pulled her out and then demanded to know what room they were in. She said her friend who was not as affected as her grabbed her hand and dragged her into the hotel. “She told the security not to let anyone in and not to give them our room number. I was going in and out of consciousness all night. I was slurring my words. I was jittery. My friend told me she took me up to our room and I was going in and out of consciousness. She just stayed up all night watching me because she was scared that I was going to OD [overdose]. So she gave me a cold bath to calm the temperature down.”
The woman said the next morning they went to security at the hotel and reported what happened and the security officer contacted the police.
She said two officers arrived at the hotel including a female police officer.
“The female officer was very sympathetic but the male officer was making disrespectful comments. My friend had a video of the glass we were drinking from with substances in it and she showed it to him and he literally said it could be substances from the ice cube. When he said that, it immediately threw off my friend and she was done. They invited us to the station but she said she was not going.
However, the woman said she went with the officers to the Oistins Station and she charged that she was again disrespected by other police officers.
“They were saying a lot of snarky comments, like victim-blaming comments. One of them even told me that if we kept saying stuff like that this could be bad for his image and his reputation and they told us not to go on social media and talk about it because it could be bad for Barbados. They kept asking for us to go take blood tests, in order to get him prosecuted but when they told me that I would have to go to the hospital and wait and it was 11:30 a.m. and our flight was 3 p.m. I told them I didn’t want to miss my flight.
The woman said the officers then asked her if she wanted them to warn the man and she said “yes.”
She told the DAILY NATION: “I don’t think they would even warn him but I want to warn young women who come to Barbados and who live there to beware of this man. This is not the first time he has done this.
When contacted Police communications and public affairs officer, Acting Inspector Ryan Brathwaite said: “I can confirm that a report was made to the police in respect of this matter. The complainants were interviewed and investigations into the allegations commenced. However, the complainants were reluctant to follow the procedures which would enable the investigation to proceed criminally. The complainants further advised that they wanted the offenders warned. Notwithstanding the wishes of the victims, the police will continue their efforts to interview those persons who were mentioned as being concerned with this matter.”
