Stating that “two wrongs don’t make a right,” human rights activist Karen de Souza has defended Red Thread’s activism on behalf of 19-year-old baby sitter Fatima Martin, who was sentenced to 60 months in prison after pleading guilty to assaulting the infant child of a magistrate and her husband.
Red Thread and a number of other organisations, including the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) and the Guyana Women Miners Organi-sation (GWMO), came out in defence of the young woman but have been roundly criticized for taking the side of a ‘child abuser.’ Some citizens had recently taken to protesting for the rights of the child outside the GHRA’s building.
The one-year-old baby girl is the daughter of Magistrate Geeta Chandan-Edmond and attorney Joel Edmond.
Asked about the issue during a recent interview with this newspaper, de Souza made it clear that Red Thread was not excusing the actions of Martin.
“…There is no excuse for hitting the child. At the time when we made the statement we had no information on how badly the child was hit but the position was that even if it was a small slap it was wrong, out of order and something had to be done about it,” de Souza said.
However, she said the reported behaviour of the magistrate and her husband “is horrendous, they are in a position of power, and it is not just the power of the employer, the power of being legal officers and for them to use that position to treat her in the way that she was treated is wrong. It is such a concentrated abuse of power that is not acceptable.”
Stressing again that those protesting were not excusing the actions of Martin since they would not excuse such actions in themselves, de Souza described it as “ridiculous” that persons were coming out of the “woodwork” to protest for the child. But she said she was “very happy that there are people coming out to champion the rights of children I would like them to do a lot more of that.
I would like them to be out there every time a child gets brutalized in school or at home, or anywhere else. We need more champions for children.”
Martin has since been released on $100,000 bail granted by acting Chief Justice Ian Chang. She was given the maximum sentence for inflicting grievous bodily harm on the infant, Sanjana Edmond. The 60-month sentence and the swiftness of the proceedings against her sparked a public outcry and charges of bias against the presiding magistrate.
Martin accused Magist-rate Chandan-Edmond of assaulting her after she admitted to the crime and she has alleged that the magistrate’s husband threatened her. He has refuted these claims.
Martin’s petition for bail was filed by her lawyer Sase Gunraj on the grounds that the decision of Magistrate Sueanna Lovell, who handed down the sentence, was “wrong, erroneous and misconceived in law.”
Following the public outcry the Edmonds’ lawyer Latchmie Rahamat denied the claims made by the young lawyer.
“She is a one-year-old baby. She is the real victim in this matter concerning Fatima Martin. Fatima Martin was charged with inflicting grievously bodily harm on this one-year-old baby.
There has been a lot of comments in the media over the past few days in relation to the severity of punishment which was issued to Miss Martin but that falls within the purview and discretion of the magistrate, who, at the appropriate forum, will have to defend her reasons why she decided to impose that sentence,” Rahamat had said. Martin’s sister, Charmin Martin stated that on the day she was brought before the court, a policeman started to clear the courtroom.
She said she was put out of the room and only the Edmonds and the magistrate, court officials and her sister were left in the room. “They closed the door and we couldn’t hear anything. Is after everything happen that she [Martin] tell me that she got five years in prison and she was crying. She doesn’t know about court or what happens in it,” a distraught Charmin Martin had said. She said that at time she did not have money to pay a lawyer.
