After two years of running to the police in an attempt to get them to accelerate a probe of alleged molestation involving her two-year-old child, a Linden mother is upset that a decision in the matter was made without her being informed by the police, who she accused of misleading her.
The woman said she learnt that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had advised that no charges be laid, after a letter to this effect was attached in a court summons sent to her. The alleged molester, who is the child’s father, had initiated court proceedings to get access to the child. Subsequently, he again moved to the court asking that the mother be held in contempt. The non-governmental organisation Red Thread, which has been following the matter, has since come out in full support of the woman. The organisation said that such a lengthy period before a decision is reached, is not only unacceptable but goes against the three months’ timeframe outlined in the Sexual Offences Act.
The distraught Linden woman came forward to Stabroek News several weeks ago, complaining that the matter was taking an exceedingly long time to conclude and she was becoming increasingly frustrated since the alleged molester was doing things to intimidate her and was also visiting the child’s school.
The alleged sexual abuse, the woman said, began when the child was just over two years old. It took some time for her to get the child to open up to her hence the delay in reporting the matter to the police. The woman said her troubles began when she got married to someone else. She now has two younger children for her current husband with another on the way.
The woman recalled that she began noticing strange marks on the child’s skin and the toddler would often refuse to go anywhere with her father, who would later be accused of molesting her.
“She use to be by his house and she would be crying a lot,” the mother said. She related that her concerns grew when the child entered nursery school. The child’s school was five minutes away from the house of the alleged abuser but he would always bring her home more than an hour after school had ended, she said.
Black and blue mark
The emotional woman recalled that one day, the child came home with a black and blue mark and when she enquired, the child said she had fallen in the bedroom. The woman told Stabroek News that she knew this was a lie because the child was yet to venture that far into the house. After being pressed, the child made the shocking revelations. This was in October 2014.
A report was made to the police and a medical examination was done on October 10, 2014. While the child’s hymen was not ruptured, the woman said that the doctor indicated in her in the presence of the police and the probation officer that sexual abuse starts with touching and later escalates into full penetration and the child should be listened to and appropriate action taken.
The woman said she spent weeks running to the police station for the child to give a statement to the police. Shortly after the examination, she said, the police told her that the case was weak as the child was not only young but her hymen was intact. The woman now believes that this is part of the reason why the police never pursued her report vigorously.
She said the man would later file court proceedings asking for access to the child. He was permitted to collect the child at a specific time, an order she was willing to comply with. However, she alleged that he arrived hours after the stipulated time resulting in her telling him to wait outside. When she brought the child outside, he was nowhere to be seen.
Subsequently, the man filed another matter asking that the woman be held in contempt of court for not handing over the child to him on that occasion.
Within recent times, the woman said, she has been inquiring from the police about the status of the case and got conflicting information. On one occasion she was told that the file was with the DPP and another time, was informed that it was still at the police station. She said at one point, she became so frustrated that she went to Red Thread for help.
Three Fridays ago, the woman said, she was shocked when she received a summons to attend court next month for the contempt matter filed by the alleged molester. Attached to the summons was a copy of a letter sent to the man’s lawyer by Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum which stated that the DPP said there was insufficient evidence to lay a sexual offence charge against the man.
The letter was dated April 20, 2016. Stabroek News has been able to confirm the authenticity as well as the accuracy of the contents of the letter.
Up to that point, the police had not told her anything and she is still to hear from them with regard to this development, the woman said.
She questioned why she was being kept in the dark when all she wanted was for the matter to be investigated and justice served. She remains suspicious of the manner in which the matter ended. The woman expressed the view that an injustice was done and called on the relevant authorities to look into the matter a second time.
Meanwhile, founder of Red Thread Karen de Souza told Stabroek News that she has noticed that investigations into matters of a sexual nature are “taking a long time” when the Act specifies three months for investigation and action by the police.
Section 41 of the Act specifically says “(1) where an offence under this Act is reported to the police, the police shall, in every case record the report and conduct an investigation.
(2) Within three months of a complaint being made under subsection (1): (a) a charge shall be laid in respect of the report; or (b) the file relating to the report and investigation shall be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions for advice.
(3) Failure to comply with subsection (2) constitutes neglect of duty by the Investigating Rank and the Investigating Rank shall be liable to answer disciplinary charges in accordance with the Police (Discipline) Act.”
Disciplinary measures
A legal source has confirmed that the police have in the past, submitted reports outside of the three months period and in some cases, they would hand-deliver the file to the DPP within days of the report being made. The source said in keeping with the law, the DPP can recommend disciplinary measures against the ranks in the absence of a reasonable explanation for the delay.
De Souza opined that the police may be losing sight of what is stipulated in the law with regard to these investigations.
“There is no good reason why some matters cannot be concluded faster than that,” she said while adding that there is a difficulty with cases involving toddlers and very young children because they will not be unable to give evidence in court.
In this regard, the rights advocate called on the legal officials to find ways to work around that noting that centres have been set up to deal with such situations. Making specific reference to the Linden case, she said: “If the centres were in operation at that time then all the authorities, Child Care and Protection Agency and the police, should have the information needed to move forward.”
De Souza said it seems that in this case, there was a deliberate focus on physical evidence. “There was no allegation of any activity that would leave physical evidence. That being the case I think the onus is on the authorities to do the psychological and support work necessary to find out exactly what took place and to take action,” she asserted.
She declared that the system is failing and has failed the child in this case as has been the case with many others. “We are in the season of CoIs [Commission of Inquiries] so I don’t know if we need to have one on the ways in which the institutions that are supposed to protect children are functioning or are not functioning,” she said.
De Souza pointed out too that while she has not raised the occasional disregard for the three months’ timeframe to investigate sexual offences cases, she has highlighted the need for the police to go beyond just taking statements and do some investigations. She said this applies to all offences not just sexual violence.
The Red Thread founder told Stabroek News that she has spoken before about the police’s attitude towards investigating. In the Linden case, she said, the police did not take statements from the persons who should have given statements.
Saying that she believes that something can be done with regard to this particular case despite the DPP advice not to charge, de Souza called on the Crime Chief and the DPP to “examine this business” of delays in the three months’ timeframe and to “do their work.”
