West Berbice man arrested for molesting teenage son

A West Berbice father has been taken into custody for allegedly sexually molesting his 13-year-old son.

The man, 46, is denying the offence but the child told the police and officers from the Probation and Social Services Department in Region Five that his father had violated him. The child was taken to the hospital, where a doctor confirmed the violation.

Neighbours became suspicious of the abuse after they would hear the boy hollering whenever the father, who works as a watchman, was at home.

Sources told Stabroek News that the neighbours made a complaint to two probation officers on Thursday. They subsequently checked at the home but no one was found. According to a source, the neighbours heard the child screaming again yesterday morning and suspected that the abuse was continuing and immediately contacted the officers. When the officers arrived at the house in company of the police, the boy’s father was consuming alcohol with a male friend.

The man told them that his son had gone fishing. Thinking that they were Schools’ Welfare Officers, he kept saying that he would send the boy to school but he refused to go.

He was taken to the probation office and shortly after the boy, dressed only in dingy, oversized pants, arrived in company of a neighbour.

The boy’s mother, who is separated from his father, resides in another village. She said the man did not want the boy to stay with her. The man, she said, used to go to the school and take the child home.