Human rights activist Karen de Souza yesterday called the holding of three girls who were sentenced to the New Opportunity Corps (NOC) at the Albion Police Station for 24 days “criminal” and declared that the police, the magistracy, the Child Care & Protection Agency (CC&PA) and the Ministry of Human Services all stand indicted over their treatment.
De Souza also yesterday said that she does not feel comforted by the Commis-sion of Inquiry (COI) established by the ministry to investigate the Camal’s International Home for Homeless & Battered Women where the girls— two sisters aged 13 and 15 and another 15-year-old—were staying and where they were allegedly being ill-treated.
She pointed out that sometime back the CC&PA, with much fanfare, had announced that it was established a visiting committee to monitor children’s homes and in light of this most recent case she questioned its function and whether it is functioning.
Ayo Dalgetty-Dean, who is chairing the COI, is also the Chairperson of the visiting committee and de Souza said she does not understand how the chairperson could be asked to investigate herself. The other members of the committee are: Saudia Feroze, Erma Bovell, Joan Ann Edghill and Claudia Munroe.
Contacted yesterday, Director of CC&PA Ann Greene said she would not be making any public comment on the matter as she does not want to prejudice the outcome of the inquiry. She revealed that the inquiry would commence tomorrow and it is only expected to last two days and that all questions would be answered at the end. “Let us wait on the inquiry,” she urged when further probed by this newspaper about the role the agency would have played in the case. She did, however, say that the agency would have learnt of the case after the girls would have been sentenced.
The three teenaged orphans were held at the Albion Police Station for 24 days but were released on Monday after an appeal was filed on their behalf by attorney Adrian Anamayah of the magistrate’s court decision to send them to the NOC. The girls were sentenced to the NOC by Magistrate Rabindranath Singh for two years each, while a fourth girl was released into the custody of an aunt. The girls had been charged with wandering on November 22.
Meanwhile, De Souza said the reported comments of neighbours of the home who had reportedly witnessed the abuse of children shows “a hands off approach—or ‘I don’t know who to turn to’ or ‘It is none of my business.’”
She said while she is sure the CC&PA is doing good work there is still a whole lot missing from its capacity and ability to deal with the needs of vulnerable children.
“It is long past time for welfare officers to be saying that the offence of wandering should be off the book, time to stop talking about it and do something,” De Souza charged.
She said she does not understand how the police could have detained the girls for such a length of time without any reference to the CC&PA and also how the magistrate could have sentenced them without reference to the CC&PA.
Meanwhile, activist Mark Benschop, who brought the girl’s plight to the mainstream media following a Facebook post by one of his friends, said that since he learnt of the case he was in constant contact with the police. Benschop, who had organised protests in Berbice and Georgetown yesterday, said he also met with Human Service Minister Jennifer Webster and he also made contact with several other officials in Georgetown and Berbice.
Congratulating the CC&PA for the steps it took to intervene in the case, Benschop said he hopes the inquiry is not going to take long time to be concluded and that its findings would be made public. He also said the inquiry should not be limited to one home.
He also called for the officer in charge of the Albion Police Station and the Commander of ‘B’ Division to be investigated about why no message was sent to the CC&PA about the girls being custody. “Some officer needs to be disciplined,” he said, while calling for the head of the judiciary to investigate why the girls were sentenced without a probation report being provided.
