–after questioning over sex abuse claim by girl, 13
–cops seeking child’s mother
Broadcaster and leader of the Justice For All Party Chandra Narine Sharma yesterday remained hospitalised after he collapsed at the Brickdam Police Station, where he was being taken into custody over the allegation that he sexually abused a 13-year-old girl and her sisters.
CNS Channel 6 owner Sharma was under police guard at the Caribbean Heart Institute (CHI) yesterday, while police announced that investigators were in search of the mother of his accuser.
Stabroek News was told that Sharma was questioned Thursday evening at Eve Leary and then taken to Brickdam, where he would have been placed in the lock-ups. However, he collapsed and had to be rushed to the hospital.
The girl, in a sworn affidavit, has accused the well known television personality of systematically sexually abusing her for several years. She has also said that he had abused her older sisters and two younger ones. In affidavits released by Sharma’s lawyer yesterday, the girl’s mother and an older sister denied her charges.
In a statement yesterday, the police force announced that it was searching for Primotie Danraj, “the mother of the victim of the alleged carnal knowledge involving television personality and businessman CN Sharma, for questioning in connection with the matter.” The release said the woman’s last known address is 43 Robb Street, Lacytown, Georgetown, which is Sharma’s residence. “Anyone with information that may assist in the locating of Primotie Danraj is asked to contact the police on telephone numbers 226-2917, 225-8196, 225-6411, 226-6978, 226-1326, 911 or the nearest police station,” the statement said. It further said that all information will be treated with strict confidence.
Investigation
Meanwhile, Director of the Child Protection and Childcare Agency Ann Greene said the case was reported to her office on Thursday and an investigation was triggered. “We start out on the premise of believing a child,” she said, noting that further investigations are usually conducted to determine whether the child’s story is true. “We have been unable to contact the mother. We are interested in speaking with her,” Greene said. She appealed to the mother to contact the agency because the investigation is currently being conducted based on what the teenager reported.
Greene said the intervention was to contact the mother and the other children mentioned in the case to ascertain how safe the girls are in their mother’s care. She said the agency played no prior role in the case and had no part in the preparation of an affidavit, which detailed the teenager’s story. The agency got involved on Thursday, after the report reached the office and according to Greene, the police was then contacted.
Officials from the agency and the police turned up at an alleyway where the teenager and her family resided, but no one was there. Greene said it was clear that the mother had already left the premises with the other girls. She added that the police then requested a statement from the teenager and a medical was also done.
The teenager is in the care of a relative under close supervision from the agency. Greene said the agency decided against institutionalising the child because a relative who appears responsible has shown a willingness to care for her. She added that the teenager has also stated that she feels comfortable staying with the relative.
According to a sworn affidavit by the child, seen by Stabroek News, the abuse began when she was seven years old. She said it only stopped recently when she refused to return to her mother’s home.
In the affidavit, the girl also alleges that Sharma, with whom her mother is employed, has molested two older sisters and two younger ones, who are nine years old and five years old. The girl said that in the latter stages of the abuse, she was being paid $2,000 weekly by Sharma. She also claimed that all of this was happening with the knowledge of her mother who one time sent her to Sharma to have sex and told her “it wouldn’t hurt.” The child also said that at one time her sisters saw when Sharma was performing a sexual act with her.
‘Wicked Statements’
The child’s mother and two of her siblings in affidavits of their own have denied the allegations. The mother described her daughter’s allegations as “wicked statements” adding, “I deny every allegation contained in her statement.” She said the child left since Easter Monday to fly kite with an individual, whom she said is no blood relative of theirs, and she has not seen her since. “I do not know of any incident between Mr Sharma and my daughter,” the woman said.
The mother also accused her daughter of levelling similar allegations against a male relative she was staying with some years ago and that the man subsequently hanged himself “as a result of the false allegation made against him.” She described the girl as a “wayward child who escapes from me every time I try to discipline her.”
The woman said she works with Channel Six and gets paid directly through its office.
And an 18-year-old sister of the girl said they met Sharma “a long time ago” when her grandmother took them to his office because of bad experiences they were having with their then landlord. The grandmother asked for assistance from Sharma and he provided a place for them to stay on D’Urban Street but they were later moved to Alexander Street where “we lived in an open space on the ground floor.” After some months they moved out and went to live in the infamous Globe Yard, which is known to accommodate drug addicts and petty criminals.
The 18-year-old said her mother later went to Sharma and asked for a place to stay and he permitted them to live together in an “open space” at his Robb Street premises.
The “open space” the girl referred to is the space between the walls of Sharma’s studio and home and the fence. The two buildings are opposite to each other and the family was known to live at both locations. At the studio a concrete wall blocks the family’s “open space” from public view, while at Sharma’s home, what looks like a metal door blocks the public’s view of the family’s living quarters.
Several persons have in the past expressed concerns about the family’s living conditions as they would be seen–especially at night–sitting in front of the studio or at other times looking at a small television set. Their washed clothing is usually hung to dry in the same open space and could be seen from the roadway. The young children would be seen leaving for school from the very location.
Both the 18-year-old and a 21-year-old sister denied the allegations made by their sister and said they have never seen Sharma molest their sister nor has he molested them.
