The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) yesterday said it believes that “cruel, inhumane and possibly illegal treatment” by the police of 18-year-old rape complainant, Tonika Calder led to her subsequent suicide.
As condemnation of the police handling of the case rises, the GHRA in a statement said that the “callous behaviour” of the police officers is an “affront to all the institutions and individuals who have worked over the past two decades to have in place a modern Sexual Offences Act”.
Calder’s family believes that the her suicide was a result of the manner in which her complaint was investigated by the police which included a confrontation with the rape accused and a request to provide details of her personal life in front of her mother.
