Woman dies after being bound and tied up for days

Police on La Isla Bonita are probing into the death of a woman who lost her life after being chained up by her family for days. On January 28, police visited a home in San Pedro Town and found 34-year-old Nicole Polonio dead and wrapped up in a sheet. According to police, Polonio was chained and bound by her family after suffering from a mental breakdown. Polonio’s family told police that they restrained the mother of five to prevent her from harming herself and made several checks to ensure she was okay. A post-mortem examination has since established that Polonio died as a result of “asphyxia due to freedom restraining measures”. Assistant Commissioner of Police, Hilberto Romero, says that the police will be seeking directives from the Director of Public Prosecutions to determine whether anyone will be charged for Polonio’s death.

ACP Hilberto Romero, Officer Commanding Eastern Division: “In regards to the death of Nicole Polonio a post mortem examination has been conducted on the body. We have since carried out a thorough investigation. Several statements have been recorded, exhibits are being retrieved from the house and we will forward the file to the DPP to make a determination whether anyone is to be charged for that incident. The report we received is that she had a mental breakdown and she had been restrained. Thereafter she was found motionless apparently dead. The result of the post mortem have been established and that is a part of the file which will be sent to the DPP for directives. Well according to family members that was done because she became violent and had caused injuries to herself and also had damaged some items in the house so she was restrained and according to them they were trying to seek help for her.”

According to the Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, given that there were no physical injuries that led to Polonio’s death the police will be relying on the DPP’s judgment to move forward with their investigation. 

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police: “That in itself may not be sufficient for us to be able to arrest somebody. We have to look at the entire circumstance that lead to the family tying up the person. Was it done wantonly ? So far the investigation is not showing that. Speaking to neighbors and other people in the community it clearly shows that yes in fact the young lady was going through an episode where she was acting out and causing injury to herself. Based on that the family members had to tie her up or restrain her. Was their action in restraining her lawful ? We’re going to leave that matter for the DPP to answer. So we are putting the file together and we’ll send it to the DPP for advice. We have to understand that at times we do have to protect people from themselves and if she was acting out in such a way that she was causing injury to herself who knows she would have caused injury to others as well and I’m not trying to justify the actions of nobody because I don’t know the family but we have to think real and objective in the circumstance. Was there any intent on the part of the family to have caused her harm when they tied her up ? I don’t think that there was any intent but like I said I’m going to leave it to the DPP to decide if in fact those who tied her up were justified or unjustified in so doing.”