Dear Editor,
I am in complete agreement with the sentiments expressed in the letter of Diane Lee captioned, “Police should not question children in the presence of alleged abusers”.
I wrote a letter to this effect some time ago, after a police witness admitted before the court of having done the same in a sexual assault matter involving a female child under eight. I cannot, for the life of me, comprehend the national insensitivity to this barbaric practice. I believe that it is unknown as an investigative feature in all civilized democracies. Pray tell, are we so nationally obtuse that the obvious implications of this practice by socially unconscious law enforcement officials fail to attract out attention and indignation.
I recognize that the laws of Guyana require a confrontation between an accused person and his accuser, but isn’t that supposed to occur in a duly constituted court of law? What edict in the Laws of Guyana authorizes police investigators to add to the psychological trauma of these young victims of sexual abuse, by confronting them with and questioning them in front of their predator? And why, with continued repetition of this ridiculous and unpalatable practice, has the penny not dropped yet for those who claim to be advocates for the rights of children, and a press corps that obliviously reports on such events.
Like I said, I do not believe that the “Judges Rules” or anything in Police Investigative Procedures prescribe this kind of confrontation. I believe that it amounts to child abuse on the part of those who do it.
Yours faithfully,
Robin Williams
