(Kaieteur News) – A female pump attendant was slapped to the ground on Thursday by a male PPPC activist at the Rubis Gas Station at Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara, after she refused to load seven filled gas bottles into his Canter truck.
The incident was captured on the station’s CCTV cameras. The footage reportedly shows the man approaching the woman from behind following what appears to have been a verbal exchange before slapping her, causing her to fall to the ground. She was subsequently assisted by colleagues.
The attendant was identified as Ashley Romacindo, who reportedly lodged a police complaint against the man on Thursday evening.
Ashley Romacindo sharing her story with Opposition Leader, Azruddin Mohamed and one of the members of his WIN party.
According to reports, the man was subsequently summoned to the police station, where he reportedly lodged a counter-complaint against Romacindo before being released on station bail.
In an interview with Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed, Romacindo recounted the incident and alleged that the man had verbally abused and threatened her before striking her.
Romacindo said the man initially visited the gas station to purchase cooking gas and gave her money to pay at the cashier.
“He came to the gas station to buy cooking gas and he give me the money to go to cashier to pay for the gas. I did, I come back with his change and he checked it and he say $1,000 missing,” she recounted.
She said she took the money back to the cashier, corrected the change and returned it to the man before proceeding to remove the filled gas bottles from the storage cage.
“I take out seven bottle Tex gas and I continued to put back the empties and he was there standing in his Canter tray still looking at me,” Romacindo alleged.
Scene of the assault incident
She said she then asked the man whether he intended to collect the gas bottles.
“He tell me no, I must hand [give] the bottles to him. I told him no, that is not my job,” she said.
Romacindo said she contacted the station manager and explained the situation. She claimed that the manager advised her to walk away from the man.
According to Romacindo, she followed the instruction but the man began cursing and threatened to slap her.
“I told him he can’t be a human being, he is monster,” she recalled.
Romacindo alleged that the man then climbed down from the Canter truck and followed her as she walked towards the pumps.
“…And he slapped me down,” she alleged.
She further claimed that this was not the first time the man had behaved aggressively towards her, alleging that he had previously threatened to slap her when he arrived at the gas station in a car.
The man is reportedly a member of the Community Policing Group (CPG) attached to the East Bank policing district.
Police investigations are reportedly continuing.
Source: Kaieteur News
