Officers of the Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA) clearly breached the written protocols in their handling of the case involving murdered teenager Neesa Lalita Gopaul, according to Minister of Human Services and Social Security Priya Manickchand.
She announced yesterday that her ministry has launched an internal investigation into the matter.
As Guyanese continue to express outrage and shock over the manner in which the teenager was murdered and the fact that the system failed her, Manickchand yesterday told the media at a press conference held at her ministry that she has ordered an “internal review” and is also “considering an external review.” At the end of the investigation, which is being led by the Head of Social Services Wentworth Tanner, the findings would be made public.
“We have to know exactly where the system erred, why it erred, and what we need to do within the agency as well as it relates to collaboration which other agencies to prevent these breaches from ever happening again,” Manickchand said, adding, “so that we could, as far as is possible, prevent the consequences of these breaches.”
According to the minister, from initial reports “it appears that our protocols that are written… were not followed in the manner the writers, the authors expected.” The minister emphasized that procedures and protocols that are well established in the agency “were breached and we have to determine why and how we can prevent this from happening again…”
The officers involved in the matter are still on the job and according to Permanent Secretary Trevor Thomas interdiction in the public service occurs if a person is charged. He added that they could not “preempt what the investigation will reveal.”
‘Obligated’
Manickchand said the agency is obligated to fully investigate all reports of suspected abuse and to provide, where necessary, information to the police for criminal action to be taken against perpetrators and to make medical intervention a reality where it is needed.
While Manickchand refused to go into the specifics of Gopaul’s case, reports are that the abuse of Gopaul was brought to the attention of the CCPA by teachers of Queen’s College who had observed marks of violence on the child’s body. The teenager had also reported acts of abuse to the teachers and after the agency became involved, she was removed from her mother’s home and placed in the care of her grandparents. However, the mother later took the child from the grandparents, and the agency’s officers reportedly had no further contact with her as whenever they visited the home they were met with locked gates. They were also reportedly prevented from interviewing the child at her school.
It was at this point that the agency’s protocols may have been breached as the officers, instead of reporting the difficulties they experienced to their supervisors kept quiet and Neesa Gopaul’s file was left on a desk.
“There was a failure to bump up the actions that were being taken to the next level so that more actions could have been taken,” the minister said adding that the community also failed the child since the ministry and its agencies could not do it alone.
“I beg people to believe children when they are telling you that something is happening. Children very rarely lie about sex abuse and even if they are lying then that’s still a child in need of help,” the minister appealed yesterday.
However, Gopaul’s death not only exposed the weakness in the agency’s protocols but also weaknesses in the ministries of Education and Home Affairs. According to Manickchand, her colleagues in those ministries have also launched investigations.
Recanted
Gopaul’s abuse was brought to the attention of the police but she reportedly recanted the statement she gave to the police. While some teachers at Queen’s College acted on the report they received from the child there might have been some reluctance by the school’s head to get involved. It is also not clear what action, if any, was taken by the school after the child, whose grades had dropped when she started having problems, stopped attending school.
The minister pointed out that the law provides for strong actions to be taken and robust intervention by the police in matters such as Gopaul’s, along with mandatory reporting.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, in a statement on the matter last evening, condemned the killing while adding that constant reports were made at the Leonora Police Station about acts being committed against the child but these were later withdrawn.
“It, therefore, means that the police, the relatives, and other members of the community where the young woman lived, were aware that something was amiss, but failed to do enough, to assist her,” the statement said. According to the statement, while police ranks are not specially trained welfare and probation officers, the training and experience they gain in dealing with the public should have been enough to alert them that the issues surrounding Gopaul needed special attention.
“The ranks at the station have a duty to report such matters to their Commander, who will raise these with the Commissioner of Police, who will, if necessary, consult with the Minister. This was not done, in this case,” the statement further said.
Further, it was acknowledged that there was a failure on the part of the Guyana Police Force to recognise the signals that were emanating from the reports that were made by the teen.
‘More’
Manickchand said that she believes more could have been done and should have been done to protect the child by all the authorities, sectors and persons who were aware of her complaints.
“I am certain more could have been done by the Child Care and Protection Agency. Indeed, the agency’s written procedures and protocols for addressing complaints such as those received in this matter prescribe that more should have been done.”
The minister expressed regret that the intervention by the agency in the matter was not as effective as it should have been and fell short of the high standard that has been set.
“The cabinet has expressed…outrage at the manner in which this matter was investigated and dealt with and so there are investigations across all the sectors that came into contact with this young lady,” Manickchand said. Further, the minister said that all the systems were in place to ensure that breaches did not occur but yet they happened.
“We have to use this as an opportunity to perfect a system that is good, that has served many, many children ever since its establishment…,” the minister said.
According to Manickchand, much has been done by the administration to ensure that children are protected and as such there is no failure on the part of the executive since policies have been made.
“There is no absence of political will to ensure that our children are protected. When we have policies and manuals and monies spent to establish agencies and put systems in place we have to rely on officers… to work in these places… and to work fully and do all that is expected by the government. Cabinet’s outrage led by no less a person than His Excellency President Jagdeo stemmed from the fact that after all that has been done there still seems to be a breach of procedures and protocols to allow for this matter to have slipped through the cracks,” the minister said.
