The police said yesterday that they would charge an ex-officer today, several months after he allegedly brutally raped and repeatedly traumatised a teenage girl, who was driven to attempt suicide on Saturday.
In a press release issued yesterday evening in response to an article published in the Sunday Stabroek, the police said the “matter was investigated and the file forwarded for legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions [DPP]. The file was returned to the police with advice from the DPP to conduct further investigations in order to clarify some issues.”
The release said the file was returned to the DPP and then sent back to the police and “the suspect will be charged” today.
Contacted earlier yesterday, the mother of the 18-year-old girl, who was 17 at the time of the rape in October last year, said the authorities appeared to be constructing the case only yesterday. She said the police had asked her again yesterday for information that had been previously submitted.
The mother of the teenager, who met a senior police officer yesterday, left Police Headquarters skeptical.
“They are asking us for dates… They ain’t sure when the incident happen and so on though they already had statements. We have to make contact with them and provide this information again,” the woman related yesterday.
She said that the police told her yesterday that the case file was not in their possession and was with the DPP. She said the senior officer informed her that the police were awaiting word from the DPP, but that they were also conducting “further investigations” into the matter.
Meanwhile, Stabroek News was reliably informed that the case file was returned to the police since March 30, with advice to charge the man involved. The file, reports stated, has been sitting at the Brickdam Police Station since then.
Further reports also indicated that DPP Shalimar Ali-Hack had cause to write a letter to the police complaining about the conduct of a police officer investigating the matter and she recommended that the matter be addressed at the Office of Professional Responsi-bility.
This newspaper was also informed that the matter was brought to the attention of the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security and that officers there held several counselling sessions with the teenager.
According to sources, on December 18 last year the ministry wrote to Commissioner of Police Henry Greene about the matter and attached the report of a medical examination of the teen. A response from the commissioner on December 23, only acknowledged receipt of the letter. Social workers at the ministry played no further role in the matter but continued counselling the teen and assisted her in writing her Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate exams.
Sources said yesterday that since the report of the teenager’s suicide attempt was published in the Sunday Stabroek, senior police officers were propelled into action.
But the teen’s mother struggled to be optimistic yesterday saying at the hospital that the police did not update her with respect to any aspect of the case, except to say that they were conducting further investigations.
Since her main concern is her daughter’s health and mental stability, the mother said, she left the meeting with the senior police officer thinking only of her child.
She said the family still wants justice and she will provide the police with the dates they need with the hope that it would help the case. She said too that since the story appeared in this newspaper, the man has disappeared from his home.
The 18-year-old girl was admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital on Saturday following an attempt to end her life after becoming frustrated at investigations into a rape ordeal. Her condition had improved considerably yesterday and she is expected to be discharged tomorrow.
The young woman had ingested a dose of rat poison, commonly called ‘blue rice’. She was taken to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre after ingesting the poison but was subsequently referred to the GPHC after doctors at Diamond determined that her condition was too serious.
