The police have launched a probe into allegations that US$15,000 went missing during the search of a house and Crime Chief Seelall Persaud says there is nothing in the law that prevents the police from searching premises even if a minor is the only person at home.
Persaud was commenting on Monday on a Sunday Stabroek news item published over the weekend in which it was reported that US$15,000 ($3M) mysteriously vanished during a search which was conducted when a 15-year-old girl was home alone.
The search operation was conducted last Friday night by close to a dozen ranks attached to the police narcotics branch.
In an invited comment, Persaud said that the Force has launched an investigation into the missing money. However he made it clear that the ranks acted within the law that night. “There is nothing within the law preventing the police from checking a house”, he said, explaining that it could have been empty and police could have still searched it.
Asked about concerns that it was done when a 15-year-old girl was home alone, the crime chief stated that in spite of this the search can still be conducted. Concerns were also expressed about the aggression with which the police conducted the operation which included the kicking down of a door, the cutting of a padlock and a policewoman climbing onto a verandah, all while the girl protested that she was home alone.
Meanwhile the owner of the Lot 48 Dadanawa Street, Section K, Campbellville property, Jennifer Butcher told Stabroek News on Monday night that she and the teen who is her granddaughter spent most of the day giving statements to the police.
She said that her lawyer has since advised that she make a report of the incident to the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) after which a determination will be made as to what private action can be taken against the Guyana Police Force.
The woman said that she conducted a further search of her property on Sunday and she discovered that one side of a pair of gold earrings, three pairs of gold bangles and two IPods were missing.
She noted that the teen is still in a traumatized state and is unable to sleep well at night. Butcher said that she was trying to source some counseling for the child.
The teen had recounted to Stabroek News that around 7.30 pm, she was in a bedroom on the upper flat of the two-storey house when she decided to look outside. She saw about eleven men standing outside who were all dressed in officer-like clothing. They inquired from her if any adult was home and she responded in the negative.
During a subsequent conversation she informed the group that she and her grandmother lived at the house and there were several enquiries about when the grandmother would be returning home.
The frightened teen related how a female rank then jumped on the fence and was able to climb onto the veranda where she had been standing. By that time she had returned to her bedroom which leads onto the veranda and had locked the door. She said that the policewoman later used a nipper to cut the padlock on a grill door and had a confrontation with her during which there was an attempt to handcuff her.
It was thereafter that ranks kicked down a door on the lower flat and began tumbling the house. She said that although what appeared to be an identification card was flashed in front of her she was unable to read it because it was removed too quickly.
The ranks left behind minor damage which included loosened tiles and holes in the walls.
Stabroek News was told that the police even refused to allow an attorney access to the house while the search was being conducted.
By the time Butcher arrived home, the ranks had already left. When she searched her bedroom closet the following day, the money which was to be used to buy stocks for her clothing business and some of which belonged to a friend was missing.
