TIG Post

Tag: Political staffer

  • No air, no help; my life was almost ended in parliament’s elevator – Staffer

    No air, no help; my life was almost ended in parliament’s elevator – Staffer

    On Thursday, February 29 2024, a parliamentary staff member shared a harrowing experience of almost collapsing in an elevator within the Job 600 building due to a power outage.

    The incident unfolded as both Parliament House and Job 600, the office complex for Members of Parliament (MPs), were affected by a power cut resulting from a GHc23 million debt.

    The disconnection, executed by the National Taskforce of the Electricity Company of Ghana on February 29, was part of the ongoing “Operation Zero Balance” initiative to address outstanding arrears.

    Fortunately, the distressed individual, concerned for their life, was rescued by colleagues and security personnel.

    Speaking anonymously to Citi News, the employee described being on the second floor when the lights went out on their way to the ninth floor.

    Despite unsuccessful attempts to contact engineers, the staff member managed to reach out to colleagues, who, along with security personnel, intervened.

    The employee highlighted the challenges faced during the ordeal, including struggles to open elevator doors and seeking assistance from passersby. The lack of air during the incident nearly led to fainting, underscoring the severity of the situation.

    “I went downstairs and when I was coming from down to the ninth floor, I think somewhere on the second floor the light went out so I got stuck in the elevator and I tried calling the engineers too, but it wasn’t going through.

    “The one I had too said he was at the annex. I called the other ones too still, they were taking time. So, I called my colleagues, and they came down there with the military guys and tried opening the gates so that at least I could take in some air. It is not a pleasant situation. I could see that I was passing out and I was out of air.”

    “But with the help of my colleagues and the security guards finally after about 30 minutes of being stuck there, they were able to open it and get me out of there. I was the only person in there.

    “Most of the time whenever I take the elevator I imagine being in the elevator and being stuck in it with no light in there how I will feel in there, I think today I have got to experience it but it is not a pleasant situation. It is just like you being locked up in a cell or something,” he said.

    Responding to the thoughts running through his during the ordeal, he noted “…Oh God I didn’t plan for this and I hope this is not going to be my last day but when I got my colleagues on the line I knew that in no time they will get me out of there.”

  • Bruce Lehrmann: Australian parliament rape suspect’s trial officially begins

    Trial has begun for the man accused of raping a colleague in Australia’s Parliament Building in Canberra.

    Bruce Lehrmann, a political staffer, is accused of sexually assaulting Brittany Higgins at a government minister’s office in March 2019.

    Mr. Lehrmann, 27, entered a not guilty plea and says they never had intercourse.

    The trial in a Canberra court is scheduled to last up to six weeks and could call on a number of high-profile witnesses.

    Opening their case on Tuesday, prosecutors said the alleged incident had happened after “a drunken night out” with colleagues.

    Mr Lehrmann and Ms Higgins had stopped at Parliament House, where they both worked, and a “heavily intoxicated” Ms Higgins soon fell asleep on a sofa in a minister’s office, the jury was told.

    She awoke to find the accused’s knee on her thigh and he was having sex with her, prosecutor Shane Drumgold said.

    Mr Drumgold said Ms Higgins had cried throughout the alleged sexual assault, and had said “no” half a dozen times.

    Her level of intoxication was also “relevant to her absence of consent, as well as the accused’s recklessness”, the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court heard.

    When telling a friend what had happened the next morning, Ms Higgins said she had been “barely lucid”, the prosecutor said.

    Opening the defence case later, Mr Lehrmann’s barrister Steven Whybrow said Ms Higgins’s account contained holes and inconsistencies.

    “Mark Twain once said: ‘Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.’ And this case is the epitome of that phrase,” he said.

    He urged jurors to ignore previous media coverage of the case, saying his client denies having sex with Ms Higgins.

    “He is entitled to that presumption of innocence,” Mr Whybrow said.

    Chief Justice Lucy McCallum warned jurors the case had received “a fair measure of media publicity” but that it was “very important” they put this out of their minds.