-boy was chained, locked away
A woman of Shieldstown, West Bank Berbice was arrested on Wednesday following reports that she was abusing her eight-year-old nephew while he was in her care.
The boy, who was at times chained and locked away, was rescued after his plight was highlighted on Wednesday during a seminar held for International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women at the Fort Wellington Boardroom. The Probation Department was contacted and officers subsequently informed police, who found marks of violence on the child’s body.
Stabroek News was told that the boy was removed from the home and is staying with an uncle.
The aunt has since been released and is expected to face charges at the Blairmont Court on Monday.
Residents spoke out on the abuse and torture that the child suffered at the hands of his aunt and an uncle [aunt’s brother] and said he was beaten with pieces of PVC pipes or other objects and even pelted for almost any reason. They said the child was beaten so badly that he would fall while trying to run away. At one time his nose also started to bleed because of the blows.
According to the residents, they used to hear the boy screaming but they were afraid to intervene. Because of the blows the child used to run away and the aunt and uncle “would leave him and when it get dark they would go and look for him.” Further the residents said that on weekends the aunt and uncle placed a large chain with padlock on the child to prevent him from going out in the village to play.
They also kept him locked up in a room in the lower flat of a house located in the same yard “from morning till night some weekends.” The child was also left alone at nights to sleep in the same room.
The residents said too that the boy was denied food by the aunt and uncle and used to go to the neighbours to get something to eat. Reports are that the child’s mother resides in the United States. She left in search of a better life and would support the child financially. His father, who is the aunt’s brother, is dead. Neighbours were unsure if the boy’s mother is aware of the abuse.
Meanwhile, residents said they visited the child’s school and informed his teacher as well as the head teacher but the abuse continued.
The residents who were angry at the aunt’s behaviour said “she has three children but she don’t treat them like that.”
Meanwhile, residents told Stabroek News that another woman, said to be an alcoholic, prevents her stepdaughters, aged nine and ten, from attending school. They said the woman would have the 10-year-old cooking on the fireside, while she drinks.
The stepmother and father also take the children in the backdam to catch fish to sell. If they do not take the children they would lock them out of the house without food until they return. In another case, an 11-year-old girl from the same village is pregnant for her stepfather. The man was arrested and charged with carnal knowledge at the Blairmont Court and has been placed on $600,000 bail.
According to reports the matter came to light two weeks ago after the child complained of feeling unwell and fainted at school. The teachers took her to the Fort Wellington Hospital and after she was examined it was discovered that she was six weeks pregnant. The child was questioned and she related what transpired. After the stepfather arrived at the hospital, along with the mother, to see the child he was arrested.
This storey touches the heart. These are children we are talking about. All this from one village? Could you imagine if we add this number by the number of villages we have in Guyana what we will find?
if this is true and they found gilty they should get 5 years each in jail and took the rest of children away from them one day these children will grow up to be adult and they will not forget what happen to them for these type of people that treate kids like that. that is why a lot of kids do no get schooling they cannot find a good job when they grow up and cause them to do crime.
I’m just speechless, just don’t know what to say. Where is the love.
Girl, that makes two of us.
Could somebody say why he ws granted 600,000.00 bail?
If he can post this much money in bail then he is a potential “FLIGHT RISK”.
But then again, I don’t really know the laws…………
This hurts man.
…yo amenra ,, is ur screen name anything to do wid perhaps a god fum de egyptian civilisation ?????????????????????????
I am sure this case is over blown by bleeding hearts who denounce spanking of kids as a disciplinary tool.
Spare the rod and the child will surely be spoilt- I say.
I was spanked by my parents as a child and I used the same method on my kids. I turned out fine and so did my kids. I raised 1 Doctor, 1 Lawyer and 1 Psychologist. Not bad for kids that were spanked, huh?
I am always amazed at your blogs. You are sure the case is over blown using your own methods of parenting as a standard of judgment. Your spanking cannot be credited for your children’s success. If that’s what you think and recommend you need help. Maybe you should go see that pyschologist you spanked to success!
The catalyst this situation was the need for the child’s mother to flee Guyana, post 1992 to seek a reasonable standard of living.
25 countries in the world have abandoned corporal punishment in schools and in homes and over 100 have abandoned it in schools, India being a recent one to do so. They’re still raising doctors, lawyers, psychologists, etc, etc.
Lilawattie!this is not a case of spanking,this is a case brutalizing the child.Chains,locks and physical abuse has caused so much damage to some people there can never be a healing.My children do not give me the cause to spank them and they are excelling academically.
B.R. I was a teacher in Guyana and you need a fine spanking.
What an awful statement to make in regards to genuine child abuse.
Did you not read of the child being “STARVED FOR SEVERAL DAYS, BEATEN WITH PVC PIPES, CHAINED TO PREVENT HIM LEAVING THE HOME?????????
Who cares what or whom you raised with your version of child abuse? It could well be an ass, a pig and a donkey!
Do we have personal information of their values, morals and ethics? Do we know how screwed up they are emotionally from your child abuse towards them?
How abou the 11 year old girl who is pregnant with her STEP-MONSTOR’S BABY?
What crime did she commit to deserve rape and other abuses upon herself?
Is it any wonder you are not tolerated on this forum? Time for a serious reality check!
Bismattie I think you just used this situation to throw your children’s success out there. Don’t get me wrong, you should be proud of a job well done. Remember the old saying “he who feels it, knows it”. You are not there and you cannot decide that the situation with those kids is over blown, just imagine you being overseas and struglling to make life and someone spanking, according to you, your kids until they bleed, would you have singing the same tune? I guess not. They have no right to ill treat those kids like that and they should remember, whatever you put out(bad karma), comes right back to you. I hope they can handle it. Advantage takers.
B.R, having chosen “post-1992″ as your watershed you revealed your foundational grouse, the PPP. Have you forgotten that Guyanese have been migrating for many years before 1992. Do you know that Europeans have been migrating to other parts of the world, including the USA, in large numbers? It’s natural for a person to seek a better living. It’s not natural for a person to leave a child to the cruelty of others while doing this. It’s not natural for others to mete out such cruelty to another person. You are missing the point.
How dare you comment about my children, Debbie. They are all successful, psychologically well adjusted and credit their good fortune to my excellent parental skills.
I don’t believe that parents need to spank their kids in order for them to do well in life. I was never spanked as a child and I did very well academically (have a University education and now working at a University) and in life. My children were never spanked either and they are excelling academically quite nicely.
We as parents should LOVE our kids and all kids on the whole and don’t abuse them. This is a very, very sad story. GOD please help all the unfortunate kids out there in this world…..
Marlon, I agree with you totally!!! LOVE your comment.
Debbie, you are my kind of person….. at least you, Marlon and a few others are making sense here….. thanks!!!
BR – Your comment is extremely insensitive for a parent. You’d thank your lucky stars your three kids were not raised by these two “psychos” while you were living abroad because they would DEFINITELY require the services of a DOCTOR, LAWYER and a PYSCHOLOGIST to get over their abusive ordeal.
Child abuse has been a deep rooted problem in GY for decades. The “spare the rod and spoil the child” mentality has been handed down from one generation to another; it has become a thing of torture in present times.
There will always be sick minded people like this Aunt. The most effective way to help protect children is awareness and taking action. Neighbors, friends, family, teachers and even strangers must be more vigil in reporting instances abuse.
Hey Marlon and Debbie, thanks for clarifying that situation; Bismattie had me confused there for a second. Had to go back to the article.
Bis darling, this is “ABUSE” no matter where we are on this planet.But you did good raising those scholars.
BISMATTIE, look what you raised: 1doc (to help heel thoes spanked kids pain, 1 lawyer (to give them justice)and 1 psychologist (to undestand them better).
I am a nurse and before having that diploma i was an acountant.My mom, my aunts, my uncles ect…they all spanked me when i was a child. I know about every type of child abused you can imagine. I used to pray daily for someone to help me.
Yes, i’m an educated person today but i hated all of thoes who wipped me.
I don’t even talk to my mom though i love her.
Hope your kids are well with you if yes question them to know what that they think.
Bismattie Ramsawak,lets forget about the word -Spank-for a moment.What is defined as-Spanking-is not what you read here.Is it?Did your parents do to you or you did to your children what took place in this kid’s life?I bet not.You are so wrong again about mother fleeing for a better life because of Government.Look around you and you will see how many parents that flee and are fleeing from their children all over the globe.I
Bismattie where is your compassion for children as a parent(as you claim) I am speaking as a father, grandfather, and a greatgrandfather so I think I am qualified to speak and critize your statement. Please consider this, CHILDREN ARE THE MOST PRECIOUS ASSETS OF ANY COUNTRY THEY ARE THE FUTURE PRESIDENTS LAWYERS DOCTORS AND SO MUCH MORE so Bismattie be sympathetic to those children” plight.
Here we go again, you’re way out in left field BS. Give it a rest, please!
I grew up with spanking and I don’t see anything wrong with it. Abuse is a different case.
… watah duz run ah drain ,,, blood duz run in vein ! wats on my mind now is how did this child’s mother get a visa to travel to wherever she is in America !… i trust the obscene an disgraceful treatment of this child has been made known to Minister Manickchand — forgive me but ,, i can’t remember your nuptial name — and that EVERYTHING MUST be done to see that this ua pair is made to understand that children come first in any strata or circumstance in life !.. they perhaps is parents to their own kids ,, which is why the full measure of punishment by law should be dispensed thru a speedy trial and sentence with a fine also ! and they should be put in chains too!!!!!!!!!!
that aunt who taking care of nephew and treat him in such a cruel way. because his mom sending no money she did not look back on him so aunt feel the need to ill treat him like a dog.
The ‘NEED’, Ivy?
Ivy the article states that the child’s mother supports him. “Reports are that the child’s mother resides in the United States. She left in search of a better life and would support the child financially”.
you need to read the article over again, you lost me here with your comment.
Child physical abuse, child mental abuse, child sexual abuse, child labour all boiling and bubbling away in a cauldron over a fireside. An infernal witches’s brew.
This is SICK. What has become of the morals of this society?? There is NO punishment too great for these predators!
I sincerely hope there is a good system in place for these victimised children to get counselling.
If this doesn’t stop with them then a vicious and degenerate cycle has just begun and will surely spread uncontrolled.
sick, sick, sick!
What are these people?
Modern day Guyanese.
These sick-minded people needs counceling,REAL PROFESSIONAL help.I have never heard of so much mis-conduct in my whole life. What is the matter with the Guyanese today? Crime and mis-conduct compeared with the population; this is TERRIBLE a lack of DECIENCY…How could it have gotten to this level? These HEARTLESS people,how could they live with themselves? RAPERS,PEDOFILES,ABUSERS etc. must be locked away from society. Victims who withdraw charges must spend the time for the perpetrator.The lawless behavour the this administration has caused the esculation of Crime and abuse of the human-rights even the infants are being sexually abused.