(Jamaica Observer) Stabroek News Yet another Jamaican woman has come forward with accusations of mistreatment by the authorities at the Grantley Adams International Airport in Bridgetown, Barbados.
Although Donna Benjamin-McLean’s alleged case of abuse occurred in September 2004, she has decided to come public in solidarity with Shanique Myrie — a Jamaican woman who has bitterly complained of being strip searched, finger-raped, verbally abused and locked up before being shipped out of Barbados without a reasonable explanation.
In an interview with the Observer on Saturday, Benjamin-McLean expressed her displeasure with reported denials by Barbadian authorities that Myrie’s account was lacking in veracity and that she was a victim of human trafficking.
“I want Barbados to know that it is happening. They are behaving as if it never happened, as if it is a lie. I don’t believe I will ever revisit Barbados, because I fear them,” Benjamin-McLean said. Benjamin-McLean said she was plucked from the immigration line upon her arrival in the eastern Caribbean island and subjected to demeaning treatment after she was accused of smuggling drugs.
“They had my luggage on the counter all opened, they searched and found nothing. Then two women took me into a room and said I should strip. I took my clothes off, leaving my panties and they said ‘take the panty off’. So I said, ‘I can’t because I am seeing my menstruation’ and they said ‘drop off the pad’, so I dropped it off,” a distraught Benjamin-McLean said.........
Although Donna Benjamin-McLean’s alleged case of abuse occurred in September 2004, she has decided to come public in solidarity with Shanique Myrie — a Jamaican woman who has bitterly complained of being strip searched, finger-raped, verbally abused and locked up before being shipped out of Barbados without a reasonable explanation.
In an interview with the Observer on Saturday, Benjamin-McLean expressed her displeasure with reported denials by Barbadian authorities that Myrie’s account was lacking in veracity and that she was a victim of human trafficking.
“I want Barbados to know that it is happening. They are behaving as if it never happened, as if it is a lie. I don’t believe I will ever revisit Barbados, because I fear them,” Benjamin-McLean said. Benjamin-McLean said she was plucked from the immigration line upon her arrival in the eastern Caribbean island and subjected to demeaning treatment after she was accused of smuggling drugs.
“They had my luggage on the counter all opened, they searched and found nothing. Then two women took me into a room and said I should strip. I took my clothes off, leaving my panties and they said ‘take the panty off’. So I said, ‘I can’t because I am seeing my menstruation’ and they said ‘drop off the pad’, so I dropped it off,” a distraught Benjamin-McLean said.........
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