‘He stole my dignity’

WESTERN BUREAU:

Five years after a harrowing ordeal that shook the parish of St Elizabeth, 63-year-old Joan Crumbs* has now decided to publicly speak about a brutal sexual assault that almost claimed her life after it triggered an asthma attack.

She recounted the painful details of being sodomised by 45-year-old rapist Dwight Salmon, who is now behind bars.

Salmon’s fate was sealed two weeks ago in the St Elizabeth Circuit Court, where he was sentenced to 57 years for his crimes. The severity of his actions has resulted in a mandate to serve 25 years before any possibility of parole.

The sentencing marked a significant step towards healing for Crumbs, who did not miss a single court hearing in the last four and a half years as the case dragged on.

“I have not been able to sleep peacefully for 1,642 days since that man abducted me,” Crumbs shared with The Sunday Gleaner in an exclusive interview last week.

The trauma of her ordeal continues to haunt her, as she revealed that “I have also not slept with my common-law husband of 35 years since Salmon literally stole my dignity”.

‘WHY ARE YOU

DOING THIS TO ME?’

Crumbs’ horror started on December 28, 2019, after she boarded a red plate Toyota Wish taxi outside the gates of the Black River Hospital at 5:30 a.m., after spending 24 hours being treated for an asthma attack in the Accident and Emergency Unit.

“Within minutes of entering the cab, the driver brandished a handgun and pointed it in my face. I started to scream, and he hit me in my chest with the gun, cursing expletives,” Crumbs shared with The Sunday Gleaner from her home in St Elizabeth.

“I started pleading with him, asking if he didn’t have a mother.”

“‘You don’t have sisters, why are you doing this to me?’,” she recalled as she appealed to his conscience, “but the situation worsened.”

Her abductor – a man 18 years her junior – sped towards south St Elizabeth, drove for about 15 miles and stopped shortly after her phone rang and she alerted her common-law husband that she was being abducted by the taxi driver.

“Death flashed [before] my eyes. I always read and heard about these things, but never imagined it happening to me. I feared for my life, especially when he hit me in my chest with the gun,” she shared.

Crumbs was able to alert her spouse that she was either going to be killed or raped before Salmon grabbed her phone and threw it, along with her handbag, out the window, ensuring that she couldn’t be tracked.

They drove for a while, she said, before Salmon turned on to a lonely path covered in bushes.

Ordering her out of the car and into the bushes, he then demanded that she take off her clothes and when she refused, he brandished a knife threatening to cut her in the vagina if she didn’t strip.

After complying, he proceeded to savagely sodomise her.

Crumbs said she was saved by a farmer, who was passing by to tend his farm. She said she started to scream for help and the farmer pointed a flashlight towards the area where the sound was coming from.

Salmon then ran back into his car and sped off.

Two other persons also came to her assistance and they called the police.

DESTROYED HER LIFE

Crumbs spent one week in the hospital as a result of the trauma from the ordeal.

She said her blood pressure skyrocketed to 230/190, shocking doctors, who were amazed she survived the attack, noting that she could have had a heart attack.

“While he was raping me, I could not breathe. I was having an asthma attack,” she reminisced.

The mother of two said Salmon forcing her to do some of the most heinous acts any human being could be asked to take part in has destroyed her life.

Even after she was discharged from the hospital, she said she could only sleep during the daytime as she feared closing her eyes at night.

Her attacker was arrested a month later during a police traffic stop, but that offered Crumbs no solace, so she decided to go overseas, where she stayed for three months.

“I was afraid to return home,” said Crumbs.

‘ROBS VICTIM

OF SENSE OF SAFETY’

The impact of violent sex crimes is complex and far-reaching for those who have survived such an atrocity, clinical psychologist Georgia Rose told The Sunday Gleaner.

“There is no blueprint for how an individual heals after having had such an experience. It robs the victim of their sense of safety and modifies the individual’s perception of sex,” Rose explained.

Rose noted that it’s a given that Crumbs’ attitude towards sex and intimacy would be impacted.

“As you can see, the violence extends to the marital relationship, hence the acknowledgement that the trauma is far-reaching,” said the clinical psychologist.

Rose noted that Crumbs and her husband would benefit from intense mental health support to navigate this traumatic experience and restore their intimate comforts, even while acknowledging that her attacker decimated her comfort with sex.

“He transformed the purity of the act into such a debased experience,” the doctor shared.

RAPIST FOUND GUILTY

Crumbs’ common-law husband, Dalton*, who accompanied her to court for every hearing, admitted that he became tired of waiting for justice after four years and had told his spouse last month that that would be his last time attending.

Following an arduous legal process, the trial culminated on March 20 with the verdict delivered: Salmon was found guilty.

The severity of his crimes was reflected in the sentence handed down on March 25, as he was condemned to 57 years behind bars.

The breakdown of Salmon’s sentence revealed the gravity of his offences: 25 years for rape, eight years for forcible abduction, five years for buggery, three years for grievous bodily harm, one year for assault at common law, and an additional 15 years for illegal possession of a firearm.

During the proceedings, it was revealed that Salmon had previously served time for rape. He was said to have frequented Clarendon and St James before relocating to Goshen in St Elizabeth.

It also came out during the trial that he was married with at least one child that the court could identify.

‘I’M HERE FOR HER’

“Sometimes I stray away, I just get lost. I just feel concerned,” Dalton shared with The Sunday Gleaner, making it clear that he has not pressured his spouse for anything, including intimacy.

“There is nothing wrong with us. We have been together for 35 years. Anything I have done in the past, she has always been there for me, so I will always be here for her,” he said.

Crumbs concurred, praising her partner for his commitment, compassion, loyalty, and dedication.

While her attacker tried to defame her in court by telling the judge that they had a relationship and that her reason for accusing him was a result of him not meeting her demand for a lump sum of cash, Dalton stood there and watched the proceedings, being her tower of strength.

In his defence, Salmon told the court that Crumbs demanded $15,000, although he was giving her between $4,000 and $5,000 per week.

He also said that they had sex in a small motel many times, but that night was their first time in the taxi.

The judge rubbished his argument, calling him a liar.

Salmon’s wife, who was his character reference, also tried to get her husband off the charges.

“She described her husband as loving and hardworking,” said Crumbs, still in a state of disbelief.

*Names changed to protect identities.

editorial@gleanerjm.com