Suyapa Ramos, NJ woman vacationing in Turks & Caicos beaten up by man claiming to be a taxi driver, as she now fears losing her eye and seeks to warn others of the dangers of traveling to the Caribbean.
Are you ready to go on your dream vacation? An American tourist vacationing in the Caribbean has told of being ‘brutally attacked’ during a taxi ride back to her resort while staying in the idyllic island of Turks and Caicos.
Suyapa Ramos, a New Jersey woman now fears the attack may leave her blind in her left eye and with partial hearing after being repeatedly bludgeoned by the suspect, 29 year old local man, Davidson Martin.
Ramos, a Jersey City, NJ mom had traveled abroad for the first time earlier this month to celebrate her birthday with a friend.
‘He just grabbed me and forced me into a bedroom and up against a bed’
It was while returning from an outing on March 10th, and unable to find a late night taxi that Ramos accepted a lift back to her hotel from Martin.
‘I believe after 10 they don’t run, and that was something I found out the hard way,’ the 48-year-old mother told ABC 7.
At some point the man stated needing to stop off at his apartment to get ‘some marijuana.’
Ramos who stated needing to use the bathroom followed the man upstairs only to soon after being attacked and repeatedly bludgeoned by the local man.
‘I really needed the restroom and so I asked if I could use his real quick,’ Ramos told the dailymail. ‘We got upstairs and I guess he started smoking his weed.
‘As I was coming out of the bathroom, instantly he attacked me. He just grabbed me and forced me into a bedroom and up against a bed.
‘He kept smashing his fist into the left side of my head while growling like an animal and telling me to die.
‘I was desperately trying to defend myself, trying to cover my head and my face – because I was afraid of being unconscious.
‘It was so scary to feel yourself so close to death.’
Adding, ‘While he was beating me, he was growling at me, he was trying to poke my eye out,’
‘That was the scariest thing I had to encounter — to come face to face with evil,’ Ramos recalled. ‘Pure evil.’
‘I never want something like this to happen to another woman’
Ramos was eventually able to break free and got to a hospital with the help of Good Samaritans after running to the side of the road and hailing passing motorists.
‘I fought for my life and managed to run to the road and flag a car down and these angels took me to the hospital,’ Ramos said on a GoFundMe page she set up.
Local police began investigating the case after she reached the medical facility and later arrested Davidson, according to the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force.
Davidson, 29, is facing a charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm, local authorities stated. The man made bond after posting $10K bail and currently remains free and is expected to next appear in court on May 3.
Explained the single mother, ‘I was singled out because I appeared to be a woman on her own. But this kind of thing could happen to anybody.
‘I never want something like this to happen to another woman, or any other tourist – and where ever.’
The NJ woman says she is saddled with medical bills.
Wrote Ramos on her GoFundme page in part, ‘What seemed like a place of paradise on my last day turned into a complete nightmare.’
To date the fundraiser which was started 3 days ago has raised $910 out of a $20,000 goal.
The US Department of State issued a travel advisory for Turks and Caicos last summer, warning tourists to vacation there with added caution because of crime.
‘Local medical care and criminal investigative capabilities are limited,’ the state department stated.
The alleged attack follows an incident in February involving two mothers hailing from Kentucky who claim being plied with alcohol and unwittingly given narcotics before being sexually abused by resort workers. The workers have since denied the allegations with Grand Bahamas police releasing the men.
