As the saga on British citizen Glyn Thomas Bailey continues, it is known that on Thursday, 7 December 2017, Cotui judge Mairelis Lazala ordered Thomas to be seen by psychologist at the Dr. Vinicio Calventi Public Hospital in Santo Domingo. Thomas is under pre-trial custody, after state prosecutors acted on a complaint placed by Wilfa Soto, a Cotui resident.
Soto had placed a claim for abusive treatment against Thomas. State prosecutors are now following up on the case of Thomas who had traveled to the DR to meet Soto, with whom he had been chatting online for six months. Upon arrival, Thomas has said he came to the Dominican Republic with only a one-way ticket and does not have the money to return to the UK. Soto has requested the assistance of the UK Embassy so that Thomas can return to the UK.
As a result of the legal complaint, Thomas was taken to the Santo Domingo hospital in a 911 ambulance. The psychologist Ana Reyes concluded that Thomas has a mental disorder. Thomas is being assisted by public defendant Almadamaris Rodriguez Peralta.
A follow up story in MetroRD says that psychological studies carried out at the Vinicio Calventi Public Hospital in Santo Domingo revealed Thomas is more like a “big boy” full of illusions and in need of a lot of attention.
Angel Almánzar, general director of Mental Health of the Ministry of Public Health, a unit that, on behalf of the British embassy in the country, has been assisting the foreigner in the Crisis Intervention Unit (UIC) at the Vinicio Calventi hospital, in Los Alcarrizos, northern Santo Domingo. Almanzar reported that Thomas suffers physical problems and also a severe depression as a result of the stress he has experienced after the story about the circumstances in which he arrived in the country captured the interest of the media.
“He has some physical health problems that began to be treated in the Calventi hospital. It was determined after the evaluation of a mental health team that in addition to the depression that needs to be treated, he has an intellectual disability that we could not initially identify. “
Diario Libre reported that Thomas would be further evaluated by psychologists and afterwards would be placed under the custody of the UK Embassy.
The case of Thomas went viral on social networks after the release of a video in which Soto asked for help so that the foreigner could return to his country.
Wilfa narrated in that video that Thomas only arrived with the departure ticket and that he even had to pay for transportation from the Punta Cana airport to his home in that community.
Read more in Spanish:
Diario Libre
Noticias SIN
Dominicanos Activos
Listin Diario
MetroRD
11 December 2017
