A woman and her 15-year-old daughter who allegedly doused social workers and the police with hot water were yesterday granted their pre-trial freedom.
The duo of Cotton Tree Village, West Coast Berbice appeared at the Blairmont court yesterday before Magistrate, Randell Weaver to answer the charges.
The court heard that on Thursday April 3, the woman was alleged to have verbally and physically assaulted the social workers and the police.
It is also alleged that her daughter assaulted School’s Welfare Officer Rondetta Dublin and Senior Probation & Child Care Officer Dollette Nicholson.
She also reportedly damaged Dublin’s t-shirt valued $3,000.
They both pleaded not guilty to the charges and were placed on $40,000 and $10,000 bail respectively. They are scheduled to return to court on June 2. Attorney-at-law Tejnarine Ramroop, representing the defendants, told the court that his clients reacted in a negative manner to the officers because bandits had broken into their home two weeks ago and they were afraid.
The lawyer also begged the magistrate to hand the girl over to an aunt because the mother suffers from a psychiatric problem. The girl was then released into the aunt’s care.
He told the court too that the handcuff caused some injuries to the girl’s arm and that the officers had pushed her down in the cell.
The officers from the Child Care & Protection Agency (CCPA), the School’s Welfare and the Probation Department were at the time investigating a report of neglect when they were met with the hostile treatment.
The CCPA sent the police on Wednesday afternoon to inquire. Around 9:30 am on Thursday, an officer from the CCPA returned with the police.
The woman said she was sick and refused to come downstairs to meet them. They asked to see the children along with their birth certificates.
She responded that they were sleeping and they did not have birth certificates. At that stage the officers called for the assistance of a senior rank.
But even after he came the woman still refused to co-operate and they called for Nicholson.
Before that the woman and her daughter opened the door slightly and had a screw driver while using expletives and shouting that what goes on in their house was their business. They were also heard dragging chairs in front of the doors.
After that the mother reportedly made good of threats to burn them with hot water.
They arrested the woman and when they tried to arrest the girl, she reportedly assaulted the officers.
