Last Friday afternoon four teenagers were taken into custody by the police for allegedly stealing two cases of Guinness from a drinking spot in Plaisance the previousTuesday. Two of them were held at the Turkeyen Police Station, while the other two were detained at Sparendaam. The first two were brothers, and were aged fourteen and sixteen, while one of those in Sparendaam (who happened to be their cousin), was also fourteen years old. The fourth, whose age was not provided, was a friend.
The mothers of three of them – Ms Rose and Ms Bernard – had repeatedly attempted over the weekend to see the children, but had not been allowed to do so, even though Ms Rose had flown in from Barbados after she heard the news of their detention, and had subsequently hired a lawyer on the Sunday. The teenagers were eventually released on station bail of $10,000 each on Monday morning, following which it was discovered that the 14-year-old who had been held in Sparendaam had been assaulted by an adult inmate and had sustained an eye injury. That, as it turned out, was not the worst of his mother’s anguish, since her other son, aged 10, had hanged himself the day before because he was distraught over his brother’s arrest.
The police it is true did give Ms Bernard – the mother of the boy who had been struck by an adult prisoner – a medical form so she could take her son to the Georgetown Public Hospital, but she was there nearly all day waiting for her son to be treated, and coupled with her distress over the death of her younger son, felt unable afterwards to go to Sparendaam to hand it in. Hopefully, she managed to do that subsequently.
When this newspaper spoke to Commander of ‘C’ Division, Assistant Commissioner Gavin Primo on Monday, he said that according to the laws of Guyana the police can detain a suspect whether juvenile or adult for 72 hours for questioning without instituting charges. When asked about the mothers’ claims that they had not been allowed to see their sons, we reported him as responding that he was not aware of this and would have to check on it.
There can be no excuse for the police not giving parents access to their minor children while they are in detention, despite the fact that it appears from what Commander Primo said that they can be legitimately detained for 72 hours without the institution of charges. A fourteen-year-old is a long way from being an adult, no matter what he or she might have been accused of doing, and parents or guardians must be given access to ensure that they are physically and mentally alright, and that the police recognize that their charges are minors and should be treated as such.
In this country one cannot help but feel given the unfortunate experiences with the police and youngsters, not the least of which was the Leonora case, the law should make it mandatory for a parent, guardian or some adult they designate, to be present when the police question young juveniles. At the very least the force should not be allowed to hold them for seventy-two hours for interrogation on the same basis as they hold adults.
The most disturbing thing about this case, however, is the possibility that the police at Sparendaam might have incarcerated a fourteen-year-old with adults they were holding for questioning. Juveniles on remand and those who have been convicted are never locked up with adult prisoners, for obvious reasons. If it was the case that the two youngsters were not placed in the lock-ups with adults at any point, exactly how did the fourteen-year-old come to be assaulted by a prisoner? At the very least it suggests negligence on the part of those in charge at the station. They are responsible for the safety of all those in detention, but they have to be particularly careful where minors are involved, even if they are convinced that those minors have committed some offence.
Ms Rose told our reporter on Monday that she and the other mothers intended to take the matter to the Police Complaints Authority. It is hoped that the authority will pursue their investigation with vigour, and that the hierarchy of the Guyana Police Force will independently of that, review the guidelines for the handling of juveniles in the country’s police stations as a matter of urgency.
