File on rape of mentally challenged teen with DPP – Persaud

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is in possession of the file on the case of the mentally challenged teenage girl who was raped by a minibus driver in Berbice several weeks ago, according to Crime Chief Seelall Persaud.

Persaud told Stabroek News yesterday that the file was submitted sometime last week to the DPP chambers. He said that it is still there.

Earlier this month, members of the Disabled People’s Network (DPN) of Seafield, West Coast Berbice expressed distress at the rape of the 18-year-old mentally challenged girl, by a minibus driver.

The teen’s mother had recounted that she was busy cooking and around 11.30 am she realized that her daughter was missing.
She started inquiring from residents if they had seen her, but they had not and they joined her in a search. A few hours later, a resident went to the gas station and when asked, workers said they had seen the driver holding her hand and putting her in the minibus.

The teen later said she told the driver she wanted to go to Rosignol, but instead, the driver took her to his house in the opposite direction.

The teen’s mother said she made a report to the police station, while a relative went to the driver’s house to check for her daughter. The driver told the relative that he had “put she in a bus and send she back to Rosignol”.

However, when the police turned up at the driver’s house shortly after, they found the teen there, dressed in her clothing that was “soaking wet”. The mother surmised that “he [driver] must have wash off the blood.”

The driver was taken into custody but not before one of her relatives dealt him a sound thrashing, for which he had to seek medical attention.

The man was later released from police custody pending the advice of the DPP.