A senior Caribbean public media official is recovering in a hospital alongside her elderly relative, following a shocking early-morning violent break-in attack at her private residence that has left local law enforcement investigating.
Nadia Slater, the acting director of the state-owned Agency for Public Information (API), was assaulted alongside her 70-year-old aunt at her Clare Valley home in the early hours of Tuesday, according to confirmed law enforcement sources. First responders confirmed both women suffered visible injuries in the attack, including facial and mouth wounds to Slater, before they were transported to local medical facilities for urgent care.
Investigative details obtained by local independent outlet iWitness News outline that Slater told responding officers she was woken in the dead of night by unusual noise just outside her bedroom. When she got up to investigate the disturbance, she came face-to-face with the intruder, whom she immediately identified as her cousin, a man also sharing the Slater surname. The suspect immediately began beating Slater before moving to the adjacent bedroom where her aunt was sleeping and assaulting the older woman as well.
After the attack, the suspect fled the residential property before officers arrived at the scene, which was called in around 3 a.m. Law enforcement investigators found a ladder propped against the rear exterior of Slater’s home, leading them to conclude the suspect used the ladder to climb through an unlocked bathroom window to gain unauthorized entry to the property. The assailant was subsequently taken into police custody not long after the attack, and remains in detention as the investigation progresses.
The attack comes just one week after Slater found herself at the center of a high-profile public administrative controversy that made local headlines. Last week, the API sent out a media email invitation that mistakenly labeled opposition leader Ralph Gonsalves as the sitting prime minister, a gaffe that quickly sparked public discussion. Slater was placed on administrative leave shortly after the incident, which she and the agency later characterized as an accidental mistake, issuing formal public apologies for the mislabeling.
As of Tuesday’s update, no further details on the motive for the attack have been released by investigating authorities, who have not yet commented on any potential connection between the early morning assault and the recent public controversy surrounding Slater’s role at the API.