Members of the Disabled People’s Network (DPN) of Seafield, West Coast Berbice are distressed that an 18-year-old mentally challenged girl was brutally raped, allegedly by a minibus driver.
They have joined with the mother of the teen in seeking justice and are calling on the relevant authorities to “take serious action” so that such acts can be prevented.
The driver who was taken into custody has since been released and police are awaiting the return of the file from the Director of Public Prosecutions [DPP] to proceed with charges.
President of the DPN, Mark Archibald told Stabroek News he was disappointed that someone who was entrusted with the welfare of persons had reduced himself to such behaviour.
He said “persons with disability have a right to ride” and should not be discriminated against and taken advantage of.
Archibald said he was “touched” when he heard that the driver had shown “no mercy and raped her so cruelly.”
Public Relations Officer of the network, Abigail Hamilton who is visually impaired, told this newspaper that she is now afraid to travel on her own.
Noting that the teen was taken advantage of because of her condition, she lamented, “I cannot see and I have to travel with public transportation and I do not know who to trust now. I want the Ministry of Human Services to look into the matter.”
She said “cannot sit back and relax and not speak out about what has happened to this girl. I am looking out for my other sisters and brothers with disability.”
Hamilton said members of the organisation paid a visit to the teenager’s home after learning about her plight and are fully supporting her mother in pursuing the matter until justice is granted.
Meanwhile, the teen’s mother, who was highly emotional, questioned, “How long would they [DPP] take” before the man is charged. She is afraid that he would “go into hiding…I don’t want him to go scotch free.”
Describing herself as a “disturbed mother right now,” the woman said she is “fearful for the other girls… If he can do that to my daughter he can do it to anybody else.”
She said the teen who related that the man “taped her mouth” as he was performing the act, now has a “hatred for all men; she gets angry when they come around.”
Recounting the events leading up to that horrible day, the woman said she was busy cooking and around 11.30 am she realised that her daughter was missing.
She started inquiring from residents if they had seen her, but they had not and they joined her in a search. A few hours later, a resident went out to the gas station and when asked, workers said they had seen the driver holding her hand and putting her in the minibus.
The teen later said she told the driver she wanted to go to Rosignol. But instead, the driver took her to his house in the opposite direction.
The teen’s mother said she made a report to the police station, while a relative went to the driver’s house to check for her daughter. The driver told the relative that he had “put she in a bus and send she back to Rosignol”.
However, when the police turned up at the driver’s house shortly after, they found the teen there, dressed in her clothing that was “soaking wet”. The mother surmised that “he [driver] must have wash off the blood.”
The driver was taken into custody but not before one of her relatives dealt him a sound thrashing, for which he had to seek medical attention.
