The woman who was caught on video vandalising a Toyota Hilux van on Ariapita Avenue, Woodbrook, has apologised for her actions, saying that she “tripped” when she saw her boyfriend with another woman. She also denied allegations by her “boyfriend” that he broke off their relationship three months ago but she has refused to move on and has been stalking him. The video has gone viral on social media, with people expressing mixed views about the incident.
Yesterday, the T&T Guardian spoke with the woman at her Ste Madeleine home, but she requested that her name not be published. “I want to publicly apologise for my actions and my behaviour. I was angry and upset and I acted with emotions,” she said. The woman said she was in a relationship with the police officer for about two years, but earlier this year he became distant. She said she kept trying to find out from him what was wrong but without success.
She said on Saturday night she invited him to go out with her, but he claimed he had to work. But while driving down Ariapita Avenue with her sister and friends around 1.30 am on Sunday, she saw his black van parked at the side of the road and she stopped. She said she called him twice on his phone and sent him a text message saying she was outside, but he did not respond. When he came out with the woman, she said, he walked right past her.
“That really tripped me. I really grabbed his glasses. I was not intoxicated because I was the designated driver. ” The woman, who still had a bandage on her right foot and blue-black marks on her leg and arm, said she received the injuries after the policeman struck her with his van, which rolled over her foot. She said she made a report to the Ste Madeleine Police Station about the incident after she was discharged from the Port-of-Spain Hospital on Monday. However, she admitted she was wrong and was offering to compensate him for the damage to his van.
“I am not the one going around assassinating his character, he is assassinating my character. I just want to put this behind me. It is plain nonsense.”
I’m the victim says driver
The policeman, however, who is attached to a police station in South Trinidad, is denying he was unfaithful to the woman. “He is being painted as a cheating boyfriend who was caught horning his girlfriend. That is not true,” said a close friend of the policeman, who also did not want to be named. He said the policeman broke off a three-year relationship with the woman three months ago and the woman has since been stalking him. The friend said the police officer was forced to make a report against her to the Chaguanas Police Station.
“I don’t know how she ended up being there (on the Avenue).” The friend said the policeman was leaving a club, where he was liming with a group of friends, when he saw the woman, her sister and two other people waiting for him by his van. “As he was entering the vehicle, she snatched his glasses off his face and mashed it up.” When the cop got into his van the woman pulled off the number plate and began banging up the vehicle.
The friend claimed the policeman never struck the woman with his car. “When she saw the police she throw herself on the ground.” He said the officer was afraid for his life and was trying to get away because people began throwing bottles at the van. “But the van never touched her. Imagine the bottle bust the back and right side glass.”
The total cost of damage to the windscreen, windows, bumper, bonnet and light is estimated at between $50,000 and $55,000, he said, adding the police officer gave a statement to investigating police yesterday and intended to press charges against the woman.
Woodbrook police are investigating.