(Trinidad Express) Two relatives of a 12-year-old boy found locked in a kennel at a house in Cascade on Thursday were expected to be charged over the weekend while another relative was released by police on Thursday night.
The boy’s grandmother, who did not want to be named, however, sought to justify the action, saying one of the boy’s close male relatives was simply trying to keep him out of trouble since he was deemed a “trouble maker” in school.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, she said, “I am sad about what had taken place and as a grandmother I think the (boy’s relative) handled it the wrong way.”
She said, “His guardians were frustrated because that was not a normal child and in school (Rosary Boys RC) his teachers deemed him a trouble maker so the (boy’s relative) must get frustrated.”
The boy remained at the Port of Spain General Hospital being treated for dog and mosquito bites.
The three were detained on Thursday when Belmont police officers responded to a call from residents at Upper Cascade Main Road.
The residents reported hearing the boy’s cries throughout Wednesday night.
Officers found the boy naked in a kennel which he shared with a pitbull.
He was coaxed to come out and taken to the hospital.
The Express visited the area yesterday and spoke with several residents who felt a sense of elation because the boy was rescued and slight embarrassment that it did not happen sooner.
The Express also tried to speak to a middle-aged woman in the house where the boy was found but she said she had nothing to say and that the people involved in the incident “lived downstairs”.
Others residents spoke.
“I now hearing all these stories because everything coming out now,” said one woman, who asked not to be named.
Sitting in her porch, she said their household had an idea about the goings on in the house but she simply was not sure. She said the man who placed the child in the kennel would often beat him savagely.
Another neighbour, an elderly man, said he did not know the extent of the abuse suffered by the child. “I used to hear things … I really did not want to get involved in them thing but Wednesday night was the worst,” he said.
A group of young men who sat near the house where the incident occurred said they could not sleep that night because of the boy’s screams.
They said the boy was so exhausted he “passed out” in the kennel.
