Women allege assault by enraged neighbour

The recent spate of deadly violence against women at the hands of their significant others has placed the issues surrounding domestic abuse on the forefront of public concern. But tonight there is yet another disturbing case to report because over the weekend two women were attacked because they tried to help a neighbour who was being brutally beaten.

Eva Medina, Knife Victim
“Same time this bway just come inna the house and he do this. I think if I neva mi conscious that he di do me with the knife like this and I neva move I muss ih mi wah done dead.”

Jacqueline Godwin, Reporting
Just after ten on Saturday night, twenty-eight year old Eva Medina and her five young children were inside their Mahogany Extension home when one of their neighbours, Kirk Pollard, charged into the house. Pollard was armed with a knife and without warning he attacked Medina and Sheena Audinette, a neighbour who was visiting at the time. According to the women, earlier in the evening Pollard and his girlfriend had a violent argument. Someone called the police but as soon as the cops left the enraged man turned on them, believing they had called the authorities.

Eva Medina
“He beat she and then she just run cross here and we were sitting on our steps. Me and two more friends and she seh the bway just beat ah and bruk wah glass table pan her head so my next neighbour called police fi the bway and she actually start to cry and seh she noh wan involve police inna it. So she gone and the bway lock up inna the house and when police come police gone after the bwoy. And this bway just come and seh weh Jamie deh so I tell him Jamie noh deh yah so he seh well I wah tek the charge fi unnu and he come with the knife and do me like this pan my neck and I haul back way and just the tip of the knife ketch me.”

Jacqueline Godwin
“Was it long?”

Eva Medina
“It was along knife like this, a thin lee knife like this long. I guess it was sharp because just the tip ketch me and when the tip ketch me…like I tell you that was rough.”

Sheena Audinette, Friend/Neighbour
“And he haul out the knife and he just slit my friend throat and then I jump up then when she knock him and she spring up she seh hey my neck the burn me, you see how you mek my neck the bleed.”

The women say Pollard then started chasing them in the house. Medina said at one time she had to defend herself with a part of her baby’s crib as her attacker kept wielding his weapon at her.

Sheena Audinette
“And he come after we and he the juck after we like he wah kill we and I get fraid. I neva even know weh fi mi seh and thing like that and she the talk to him and thing and he seh he noh care and this and that and she the talk to him and it look like when she the talk to him he the get vex and thing so I like, inna my mind right, why she noh mek he just talk his thing because I mi fraid bad, bad, bad, like my knee and all they get weak.”

Audinette and Medina say all they could do was screamed to her children aged nine months to twelve years old to get out of the house.

Sheena Audinette
“When he come and she come round the chair and I buck up into fi she baby bed so I tell him bway this baby deh side of me and he say he noh give wah this and that.”

Jacqueline Godwin
“And this is the first time that he attacked you?

Eva Medina
“This is the first time because dah like I tell you he talk to us, he is our neighbour but maybe something mi wrong with him the night or maybe he mi drugs up or something.”

When Pollard finally left the house, the frightened women immediately contacted the police who returned to the neighbourhood. That night, Audinette and Medina pressed charges against him for the incident.

Sheena Audinette
“And when we reach dah the station he say he wah tek take the charge and watch it after this, right there inna the police station, but she mi the give fi she statement and I mi deh outside the look pan he and he seh he wah tek the charges but watch it after this. And I fraid, I noh know what because me fraid and I have to pass there everyday.”

Eva Medina
“I think I wan justice and then I noh want like him deh round me and thing because like I tell you I dah wah single mother and I scared fi my kids and then like I work night shift and I noh want him deh under my house and thing because under my house dark.”

This afternoon Pollard appeared before Magistrate Sharon Frazer where he pled guilty to aggravated assault of Eva Medina but not guilty to harm and used of threatening words. The case has been adjourned until May twenty-ninth. If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic abuse and needs safe shelter, please contact the Women’s Department at 227-7397.