(Jamaica Gleaner) The eight-year-old girl who was raped at her home in Irwin, St James, Monday night, has said she is afraid of going back to school and wants to leave the country.
The youngster told her mother that she will never return to her school, fearing she will be laughed at.
“And she wants to leave Jamaica,” her mother said.
The mother, who along with three other female members of her family, was also brutally raped by two gunmen in bushes near their home, said her daughter remains in hospital in stable condition.
Sobbing sometimes uncontrollably throughout the interview with The Gleaner, the mother recounted the harrowing night.
She said that it was sometime after 10 o’clock Monday night when their Irwin home was invaded by the two gunmen. The criminals gathered all five females, took away their cellphones and led them into nearby bushes.
She said the men then demanded money before taking the eight-year-old girl into the house.
The perpetrators later raped the other four females in the bushes before escaping.
After the ordeal, they all went back into the house where it was discovered that the eight-year-old child had also been raped.
Cowering in fear
With no cellphone to call for help, the woman said they remained at home cowering in fear, uncertain whether the rapists were still lurking.
But daylight was not close and her daughter needed immediate medical attention.
“I was willing to take a gunshot, but I didn’t want my daughter to bleed to death on me,” she said.
And so the mother said she and her sister decided to run to their neighbour’s house for help.
Four days after the ordeal, while a large crowd converged in Sam Sharpe Square in a show of support for her family, the woman said it has been a struggle for all of them.
“I want my mother,” she said, tears streaming down her face.
She said each day she goes to the hospital to visit her eight-year-old, her anguish deepens.
“I break down every morning,” she said.
“My daughter’s youth has been taken from her,” she cried.
Between sobs, she said her daughter told her it would have been better if the men had broken her arms.
“I want to ask them why!” she screamed. “I just want a minute with him. I have to ask him why!”
Meanwhile, the police have held two brothers as suspects in the case. They were interviewed yesterday.
