‘The police dropped the ball on me’ – Lucinda Gordon
“I have vowed that nothing and no one is going to stop me from moving forward and being who I am. I plan to write a book about all of this because I have much to say” said Ms Gordon, who miraculously survived a vicious attack by her estranged lover, Renold L. Peters, who had chopped her up and left her to die before he allegedly took his own life back in November of 2016.
Ms Gordon related that she had suffered at the hands, mouth, hammer and finally cutlass. However, all along she was not silent and took her matters to the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force, often making reports to the East End Police Station.
Today, female police offers attached to that station cannot look her in her face as, according to Ms Gordon, "They didn't see me as someone who needed help. They dropped the ball on me..... They looked away when they saw me coming."
The judicial system/process also didn't come through in time for her as while legal documents were being processed in the courts of law to be served on her abuser, he moved ahead of them in an attempt to kill her because she was no longer going to put up with his alleged abusive acts.
Relationship gets dangerous
Ms Gordon told her story yet another time at the ‘Stiletto Walk - walk a mile in her shoes’, which was designed to raise awareness of domestic violence in the Territory. This was at Captain Mulligans Bar and Restaurant on June 28, 2017 organised by WinBVI, in collaboration with the Family Support Network (FSN).
Ms Gordon said her relationship over five years went downhill when her partner began to abuse her verbally and mentally, which she eventually got tired of.
"As time went by, I decided that I couldn’t put up with this type of relationship and behavior that he showed anymore. I was his enabler; he was able to go out and drink because I was always there to go out and bring him back home. I felt like a mother hen. I felt tired.”
She said she related to the man that she was no longer prepared to continue in the situation and wanted him out of her life. He then became abusive, first by slashing the tires of her vehicle, which was reported to police, yet the following day he allegedly slashed two others.
One day she said she came home to find her house open and the accused lying in her bed. This was after she had already given him the marching orders and had put out his belongings.
“I woke him up. I had packed up his stuff in a shed. I told him, instead of looking the way you are, let me give you your stuff so you can take them with you. I allowed him to put the items in my truck. He was getting in the back and I told him to get in the front; I never had any reason to fear him because there was never any physical anything in our relationship in that five years.”
It was at that stage he offered her a gift of a gold item, to which she replied, “Of the last five years when we’ve been together, you don’t know gold is not my thing? I’m a silver woman.” She said that was the last thing she remembered.
She said her response threw him in a rage and he hit her in her head with a hammer, which caused her to drive off the road and over a cliff.
She survived but life was nothing close to normal thereafter for her.
“Many times before I would see tracks around my house, so I knew he was stalking me. I bought a taser light so I can see and a taser so I can protect myself, and under my bed I had a knife, a bat; I was ready because I realised the police weren’t there for me, so I had to do it for myself, but unfortunately I didn’t get to use any of those things. No one was listening to me.”
That fateful night
On the night of November 28, 2016 a man jumped out of the bushes with a cutlass and viciously attacked Gordon, chopping to kill.
“He held that cutlass high over his head and I said...he sharpened it for me. The light reflected on it, it was sharp," Gordon said.
“I backed up and I yelled for help. I fought; that night I fought. He chopped and he chopped, and I yelled and I fought, and then I fell. I told myself to stay there and pretend I was dead, because if I didn’t, he would continue to chop. And as I laid there, he chopped me one more time and I did not make a sound.”
Once her attacker left the scene, the injured woman managed to crawl to a place where she could have been seen and eventually passersby rescued her.
Today, as an even stronger advocate against Domestic Violence, Ms Gordon appeals to both men and women to get help early if in an abusive relationship.
Hopefully the powers that be would not drop the ball on them too.
20 Responses to “‘The police dropped the ball on me’ – Lucinda Gordon”
There is NO EXCUSE for him hiding in the bushes with a sharpened cutlass and slicing up a woman because she left his abuse and wanted to move on with her life. Stop making excuses for murderous, abusive men. People, idiotic people, like YOU, are the reason men like this feel comfortable to kill. Cause they know some clown will always make excuses for them, talking about "two sides".