The couple, who were held for allegedly operating a prostitution ring of young girls in the Oko Backdam in Region Seven, have been released from police custody since the 72 hours that a person could be held without charge had elapsed, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said yesterday.
Persaud said that police from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Eve Leary, are about to wrap up their investigation and the file will shortly be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice on what charges are to be laid against the husband and wife duo.
Police launched an investigation into the alleged sex ring last week following a report by a fourth girl -the 16-year-old who had escaped and was brought out of the backdam with the assistance of the Guyana Women Miners Organisation – that she was being forced to work as a prostitute by the woman.
The lawmen travelled to the area and three other girls – two fifteen-year-olds and a 17-year-old – were found in what is called a Kaymanoo (crudely built buildings in the interior which are used primarily for sex workers).
The ranks arrived in the backdam last week Thursday night, mere hours after they had taken the statement from the escaped 16-year-old and left the backdam on Friday after arresting the woman who allegedly took the girls into the backdam. Her husband was also arrested.
All four girls have since given statements to the police – three are in the care of the Ministry of Human Services & Social Security – and Persaud said no one else has come forward to make allegations against the duo.
The 16-year-old, who had escaped on Thursday last, had told Stabroek News that she ran away from her grandmother’s home in New Amsterdam after she was recruited by a man to work in the woman’s shop. She had said it was last week Sunday that the woman travelled to New Amsterdam and herself and the three other girls left the same day but they spent the night at the woman’s house on the West Bank of Demerara. While there the woman’s husband allegedly asked their son which one of the girls he wanted and the one he selected was sent to spend the night with him.
The teenager had alleged that she was slapped and beaten by the woman to become a sex worker but she resisted and with the help of a man managed to leave the area. It is believed that it was the same man who contacted Simona Broomes, president of the women’s miners organisation, via phone and she later got in touch with the police. The teenager had said she was promised $80,000 a week to work in a shop.
