API head attacked, hospitalised, along with 72-yro Aunt
Just one day after Opposition Leader Ralph Gonsalves publicly condemned the ruling New Democratic Party (NDP) and local media for their relentless bullying of public servant Nadia Slater, the Acting Director of the Agency for Public Information (API) was viciously attacked in her home.
On the morning of Tuesday, May 5, an intruder broke into Slater’s Clare Valley home through a bathroom window, subjecting her to a brutal physical assault. The attacker choked and beat Slater, eventually grabbing a gas cylinder to strike her repeatedly after she briefly broke free.
The shocking violence unfolded just days after Slater was thrust into the center of a highly charged political controversy and subsequent public firing line.
The sequence of events began when the API issued a press announcement that mistakenly referred to former Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves as the current Prime Minister, instead of Dr. Godwin Friday. An attempt to correct the record went disastrously wrong when a follow-up statement, intended to explain the clerical mistake was made “without malice,” contained a typographical error stating it was made “with malice”. As a result of this public blunder, Slater was placed on administrative leave.
The political fallout was immediate, severe, and heavily partisan. Former Prime Minister Gonsalves spoke out forcefully on May 4 the very day before the home invasion warning about the dangerous and targeted climate being cultivated around Slater. He blasted the current NDP leadership, accusing them of “madness” and “heartlessness,” while explicitly calling out local media, particularly iWitness News, for acting as an extension of the NDP state media to torment the young professional.
In a chillingly prophetic defense of Slater, whom he described as a “very good professional” from a progressive family, Gonsalves warned that ruling politicians and certain media outlets were attempting to “tie her up, tar and feather her”. He categorized the harassment as “unacceptable bullying” driven by an insecure administration.
“Stop it, man. Stop it,” Gonsalves pleaded to the politicians orchestrating the targeted harassment, arguing that such an “innocent, inadvertent error” did not warrant a public execution of her character.
Slater’s 72-year-old aunt was also severely beaten and left bloodied by the intruder before Slater managed to escape outside and alert her neighbours. Both women were transported to the hospital, and police currently have a male suspect in custody.
While some reports indicate that the attacker is a relative, others reports indicate otherwise.