Magistrate disagrees
By Iana Seales
The father of a teenage girl who was physically assaulted by her stepfather and temporarily removed from his home says a recent court decision to place her back in the man’s care sets a bad precedent and puts the child at risk but the magistrate in the case has defended his decision.
Lloyd Daniels, the father, had also alleged that Magistrate Fazil Azeez was biased towards him. Daniels said a probation report that reflected only the stepfather’s side was read in court and the magistrate ruled based on the recommendations in the report.
“The report basically said I am a lousy father and that I do not deserve to be with my child, my daughter who I never hit in my life. She was beaten so badly that people who witnessed it told me he should have been charged under the Domestic Violence Act,” Daniels said.
Daniels, who said he is a former police officer turned electrician, said that from the outset the court looked at him and determined he was an unfit parent. He said the magistrate and probation officer and police prosecutor in the case all made up their minds after one look and decided to return the child to a home where she is abused constantly.
But in responding to Daniel’s assertions Magistrate Azeez said the welfare of the girl was critical and in making a decision he considered several aspects of the case. Of particular importance, he said, the court found that there was no history of abuse at the hands of the stepfather but in a moment of rage he lashed out at the girl injuring her.
Magistrate Azzez said he thought it important not to break up what is a sound family unit that had been together for many years with the stepfather at the helm raising the girl and another sister who has no biological connection to him.
“The biological father abandoned his children when they were very little and the mother remarried giving them a home and father to care for them. He [father] only showed up recently and is seeking to have this girl placed in his care which is something I did not find wise to do,” Azeez stated.
He said the court also found that Daniels has no fixed place of abode, no regular income and is therefore in no position to properly care for the girl. However, Daniels says he is an electrician and he resides at Duncan Street, Campbellville with a wife and children, adding that the court did not check properly.
Though the girl openly said she did not wish to return to the stepfather’s home with her mother and siblings, the magistrate said he returned her to them. He said the child is at an age where she is being sought after romantically and her own emotions are acting up so she desires freedom and according to him, she is allowed the right amount at her stepfather’s home.
On May 30 the stepfather, Mark Crandon, was charged with ill treatment of a child under the Summary Jurisdiction Act. He pleaded not guilty and the matter was called on two occasions after. On the second occasion Magistrate Azeez ordered a probation report to be prepared on the case and he asked Daniels to visit the probation office at Vreed-en-Hoop. But Daniels did not show up for the visit and when the probation officer went in search of him the search came up empty.
Recounting details of what happened to the girl as told to him, Lloyd Daniels told Stabroek News that she was on her way home from school and had stopped to talk with two male friends when the stepfather approached them and started abusing her in full view of the public.
He alleged that Crandon snatched an umbrella that one of the young boys was carrying and severely beat the girl in her face with it. This was on May 23.
Daniels said he found out about the incident on May 25 and later got the police involved. He said that on May 28 he got a female police officer to accompany him to the home at West Bank Demerara and they collected the girl. They made a report and the girl was taken to the hospital where a medical report was prepared. He said that the girl’s mother and stepfather later showed up at the station demanding that the girl be returned to them but the police handed the girl over to him after calling the probation office in the city.
Daniels said that they went to court on May 30 but the magistrate refused to give him a hearing. He said that the mother and stepfather spoke extensively while he was told to say nothing and according to him, the child never got a chance to tell her story.
He said that on the day he was asked to meet with the probation officer he had contracted ‘red eye’ (conjunctivitis) and had to stay away. But Daniels said he made contact with the probation office in the city and was advised that everything would be okay.
According to him, they went to court last Friday and the magistrate read the probation report which recommended that the girl stay in the stepfather’s care. He said the court then ruled in Crandon’s favour and sent the girl with him.
“My story never came out in court and that report was biased towards me, nothing was there about me and the fact that I care for these children”, he said.
Magistrate Azeez told this newspaper that Daniels had a hearing in court and that his story was documented. He said that the court had no reason to be biased towards Daniels because he is the girl’s father. However, he said Daniels did himself a disservice by failing to go to the probation officer. He said there were no reports of him being sick with conjunctivitis, adding that if his claim was true then the office at Vreed-en-Hoop would have known. He added that the case had its own factual matrix which he looked at before making a decision. Azeez said he stands by that decision and he has since ordered that the step-father must no longer discipline the girl.
