By Admin. Updated 7:36 p.m., Wednesday, March 5, 2025, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).
A teacher who videotaped herself being arrested after being accused of disturbing the peace at a government office has called on Prime Minister and Minister of National Security Dr. Ralph Gonsalves to investigate the matter.
The incident has garnered widespread local and regional attention after the teacher Mrs. Shermaine Joseph-Barnwell posted a video showing her being removed from the Ministerial Building in Kingstown by law enforcement officials after trying to resign from her job.
On March 3, 2025, Mrs. Joseph went to the Service Commissions Department located on the third floor of the Ministerial Building in Kingstown with triplicates* of her letter of resignation.
Mrs. Joseph said on radio she walked into the office very pleasantly saying good morning to everyone.
“I am here to drop in my resignation, and I need to know how many vacation days I have because before you resign, they are supposed to give you your vacation,” the educator said on radio.
“The lady said hold on she will get the information for me. The lady did not come back,” Mrs. Barnwell said.
“While I was standing there doing my vlog, three gentlemen passed in. I said good morning; they said good morning. The gentlemen came back out to the front and they said cordon off the suspect; we got a call that there is a disturbance of the peace, and we are here to remove you from the building,” Mrs. Barnwell said on radio.
In a video posted by Mrs. Barnwell, individuals who appeared to be officers (both male and female) were heard trying to convince her to leave the premises to which Mrs. Barnwell responded she has done nothing wrong.
The video also shows someone appearing to be a male figure grabbing Mrs. Barnwell at which point the video became visually unclear, but the voices of individuals including that of Mrs. Barnwell were still audible and their words, decipherable.
In the video, while she was being removed from the building, an emotional Mrs. Barnwell could be heard telling the officers she recently had a baby.
The video that went viral on the internet has generated responses from several local and regional commentators and activists decrying Mrs. Barnwell’s removal from the building by law enforcement officials.
On radio, Mrs. Barnwell later revealed that she was taken to the Central Police Station in an area where she claims she was not able to use the bathroom and had to urinate in a water bottle.
In a Facebook post on March 5, Mrs. Barnwell called on the prime minister to investigate the matter.
“I demand that the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines make a public statement regarding my arrest,” she said.
“Specifically, I request that he divulges the following information in his address: the name of the person who made the report of the disturbance that led to my arrest, the nature of the disturbance that was reported that led to my arrest, the reason why the Criminal Investigations Department was involved in this alleged disturbance and not the auxiliary officers assigned to the Ministerial Building”.
In the fourth requirement, Mrs. Barnwell alleges that someone committed a criminal offense by “knowingly providing law enforcement with false information about a crime that did not occur or misrepresented any facts to deceive or obstruct justice to my detriment,” and asked the prime minister about whether the person will be charged.
“This is the information that I am calling on the prime minister honorable Dr. Ralph E. Gonsalves to divulge in this public address convening my public disgrace that was unwarranted and I was not charged,” she added.
Neither the police nor the Service Commissions Department (officially called the Personnel Department) have publicly addressed the matter.
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