A Policeman who rescued a woman as she tried to jump from a 50ft-high ledge said last night he was “very, very happy” to have saved her life.

Chief Inspector Anthony Mouchette grabbed the 25-year-old after she made a sudden movement on the foot-wide ledge on a retaining wall between the Shell Garage and Hamma Galleries on the outskirts of Hamilton yesterday morning.

The officer, a trained Police negotiator, had been trying to coax her down from the ledge for almost an hour as traffic went past on East Broadway, but she had not responded to him.

He told The Royal Gazette: “I feel very, very happy that it had a peaceful resolution. I would have been highly disappointed if things had gone wrong. I would have felt I didn't do my job. Sometimes it's a privilege and it's good to save lives.”

The drama began at about 7.15 a.m. when two passers-by saw the Pembroke woman climb onto the wall from Cavendish Road and manoeuvre her way down to the ledge by holding onto a cable.

Helen Seepersad, 62, from Devonshire, said: “She was upset about something. She was crying. I said: ‘Do you want to get off? I can help you'. She said: ‘Leave me alone'. I got a bus driver to call the Police.”

Chris Williams, 39, from Hamilton parish, added that he also tried to help. “I spoke to her but got no response.”

Emergency crews arrived on the scene soon after, with Chief Insp. Mouchette not far behind. He initially tried to talk to the woman from Cavendish Road but then went down to East Broadway and was lifted up to her level in a “bucket” on a fire service ladder-truck, as scores of onlookers watched.

He said: “I got about a foot-and-a-half away from her. I was close enough to touch her. I was trying to calm her and sympathise with her. She didn't tell me what the problem was. She was totally non-responsive. “I was debating with the bucket operator about pulling her in. I asked for the fire department to pass me a rope to act as extra security. There was sufficient space to get a rope around her waist.

“But she then made a sudden movement. The good thing is that I had my hand on her. I tightened my hand and put my other hand on her and the operator reached across as well.

“With a little bit of strength and power we pulled her in. I don't think she slipped. The ledge was so narrow but in my view she attempted to jump.”

The 44-year-old officer said he had to apply his weight to the woman to stop her struggling once she was in the bucket and that she started to kick her feet as she was put on a stretcher once on the ground. “By the time she was strapped in she became calm,” he said.

The woman was taken by ambulance to the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and a male friend who was at the scene gave officers her name. Chief Insp. Mouchette said such incidents were rare in Bermuda. “The last rescue I did was maybe about two years ago,” he said. “It can be very, very stressful for the negotiator, especially when the person is not responding.”

Last night, Dr. Edirimuni Rodrigo, acting chief of psychiatry at the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute, urged anyone feeling depressed to seek help. “All of us feel overwhelmed by problems at one time or another,” he said. “This can be for a range of issues: problems at work, at home, or even as the result of illness.

“We recommend if you are troubled that you speak with a family member, friend, minister or GP. If you are employed you can contact the Employee Assistance Programme. You can also come to Emergency at the hospital or call the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 236-3770. “There are a range of options and no one needs to face challenges alone. Always seek help. If there is a problem there will be range of solutions.”