Police in Berbice have questioned and released a woman who allegedly allowed her husband to sexually abuse her13-year-old daughter and they are currently looking for the man.
The latest act of abuse reportedly occurred during last week and officers of the Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA) in Region Five are also investigating the matter.
Persons who were instrumental in bringing the matter to the attention of the agency are outraged over the child’s plight and want it to be investigated thoroughly. They referred to the recent case of 16-year-old Neesa Gopaul, who was murdered and her body stuffed in a suitcase and anchored in a creek after more than a year of abuse reportedly at the hands of her mother’s lover.
Reports are that the abuse of the Berbice girl started since she was 10 years old and she had complained to her mother, who is a school teacher, but the woman allegedly did nothing.
Last December, the girl confided in her friends at school but neither she nor any of them said anything to teachers. Instead, one of the friends who later had a falling out with the girl decided to tell the girl’s stepfather what she had said about him when he turned up to pick her up from school.
The man went home and told her mother and they both physically abused her. Teachers noticed the marks on her body when she returned to school the next day and they immediately informed the CCPA.
The matter was also reported to the police and the stepfather was subsequently taken into custody. However he was never charged and was placed on station bail in the sum of $600,000, which his wife (the girl’s mother) posted for him.
The girl’s father called the police to make inquiries about the matter and was told they were doing further investigations.
Meanwhile, CCPA officers removed the child from her mother’s home and placed her in the custody of her father and stepmother. To further protect her, the girl’s father removed her from the school she was attending and enrolled her at a private institution. The teachers there were warned not to allow her to leave with anyone without permission.
However, on three occasions, the mother and stepfather showed up after school and ordered the girl into the stepfather’s car. They then took her to a house where the man sexually molested her while the mother waited.
The man also threatened the girl that he would kill her if she told anyone. The girl’s stepmother noticed red marks around her neck and when she questioned her, the girl she told her she had scratched her own neck.
However, the stepmother later learnt from a minibus driver that the girl’s mother had been seen lurking around the school. After hearing that the stepmother questioned the girl again and it was then that she related what had transpired.
