The family of an 18-year-old girl who recently took her own life are blaming officers at the Cove and John Police Station for her drastic action because of the way they handled her allegation of rape against a taxi driver.
Tonika Calder took her life on November 11, four days after she said she was raped by a taxi driver known to her family. Her death also came hours after she was interrogated by investigators at Cove and John Police Station, who forced her to detail her sex life in front of the alleged rapist and her mother.
Her sister, Dixie Jordan, believes it was this that drove her sister to take her life but said her reputation, and that of her family, is now being viciously tarnished on Facebook by supporters of the alleged rapist.
“I just want the truth to be out there… My sister’s name is now being tarnished… The police never give her and my family any sympathy; it was as if they were all for the man. They made my sister, a teenager, talk about her sex life in front of this man who claim he was having a relationship with her and now people saying we wanted money and all that…,” the sister told this newspaper in an interview.
She said the alleged perpetrator, who is 49 years old, got off scot free on account of her sister’s death and their mother cannot get over the loss of her last child. She accused the lead investigating rank of having close ties to the man, since his partner is her hairdresser. In addition, another of the ranks has the same last name as the accused, although it is yet to be determined if they are related.
Jordan said the family has since made a report to Commander of Region Four ‘C’ Khalil Pareshram, who promised an investigation.
When contacted, Commander Pareshram told this newspaper that an investigation was conducted into the rape allegation and legal advice was sought and given and this was conveyed to the family. That advice was that the alleged rapist would face no charges since the victim was dead.
Asked about an investigation into the handling of the investigation, the commander said the family’s complaint was more about some Facebook posts and that posts were made by parties both for and against the case. He told this newspaper that the relative making the report opted not to give statements and maintained that it was “primarily” about the Facebook posts and not about the handling of the investigation.
Pressed as to whether the ranks involved would be investigated, the commander stressed, “All I am saying [is that] an investigation was done and legal advice was sought”.
Party
According to Jordan, her sister, who only turned 18 on October 17 and was in fifth form, was given permission to attend a birthday party on November 6. She said she left with the taxi driver, who is well known to the family and was used by them all the time; he was expected to pick her up after the party and transport her back home.
The following morning, the teenager informed her mother that she was held down and raped by the man in the back seat of the car.
Jordan, who said she constantly used the man’s taxi to conduct her business in around the city, contacted the driver immediately and put the allegation to him, but he denied it, claiming that the teenager had entered his car intoxicated in the company of a boy and openly said she wanted to have sex.
The family reported the matter first to the Vigilance Police Station, but was directed to Cove and John where such matters are handled.
That was on November 7 and according to Jordan, the policeman at the station wanted to send her sister to have a medical done the following day. It was on the insistence of another sister, who is a member of the Guyana Prison Service and sought advice from others and she was taken the same day.
Jordan shared that the police also wanted the family to provide the transportation as well and it was through her sister again, with help from others that they eventually transported the teenager to have the medical done.
“My sister went home that night and she was crying… She was also vomiting maybe from the tablet she got at the hospital, but she was afraid… She was traumatised…,” Jordan said.
The following day, Calder returned to the police station and this time the police also took a report from her boyfriend. Jordan said while she had spoken to her sister about the young man she was unaware that they were still together and her mother was not aware of this either.
Two attempts by the police to arrest the taxi driver failed, but he eventually turned himself in a few days later.
That was on November 11 and Jordan said her sister had returned to school where she received a call from the police to report immediately to the station.
“They didn’t call me or my mother, they called her, a school child. Anyway we went and sign for her and we went to the station,” Jordan said.
At the station, Jordan gave an oral statement in front of the alleged rapist and he also gave a statement. She was then told that her sister and her mother, both of whom were sitting under a benab in the station’s compound, could go in. She said she specifically asked if the man was going to be present when her sister was making her statement and she was told he would have to leave.
A relationship
However, she later learned that the man remained in the room and in front of the teenager, claimed that he was in a relationship with her and that she had begged him to have sex twice on the night in question.
Her mother, who was present, told her that at this point her sister started to cry and denied the man’s claim. The police then claimed that they heard a voice note her sister allegedly sent to her boyfriend admitting she had sex with the man.
“We have checked my sister’s phone and there is no such voice note, but that is what they said in front of the man,” Jordan said.
The police then asked the teenager about her sex life with her boyfriend and when last she had sex.
“The interview went from the rape to her having a boyfriend and when was the last time she had sex, all those questions in front of her rapist and her mommy. Her mother had no idea that she had boyfriend and hearing that she started to shake and get sick,” Jordan said.
“Her entire sexual life she had to sit down and talk about it because the police tell she, you could lie to your mother but you can’t lie to me because when you go in court and you lie they guh charge you for lying.”
She believes her sister became scared even as she observed that her mother was becoming ill.
At one point the police called Jordan to take her mother outside because of her condition but they continued to question the teenager in the presence of her alleged rapist.
“They even ask her if she had sex with the boyfriend the Friday and then the man the Saturday, if she don’t think her vagina would be bruised. I don’t know how it move from him raping her to her boy-friend having sex with her,” the woman said incredulously.
She admitted that when her mother told her that her sister detailed having sex with her boyfriend, she became angry and scolded the girl when she came out.
“I told her, ‘You see, I used to talk to you and you went and do you own thing and now the police using it against you,’” she recalled.
Jordan said she left her mother and sister at the station because she had a business commitment. At the time, she claimed, the man’s girlfriend was in the police compound and was laughing and mocking her. The police also became angry with her mother when she questioned how much longer they had to remain at the station and suggested that she could leave Calder since she was an adult.
They later returned home and as her mother rested her sister proceeded to her room where she ended her life.
Calls
Jordan said that before her sister’s death, the man’s girlfriend had called and asked them to settle the matter, but they bluntly refused.
Jordan is blaming the police for some of what is being said about the family on social media. She revealed that she had vented to another sister after she found out Calder was sexually active and that sister posted a message in their family WhatsApp group upbraiding her mother about allowing their sister to have her own way and now having to cover up the shame.
That message, Jordan said, somehow made its way to the internet. They believe the police had access to the WhatsApp group as they had gone through Calder’s phone several times.
Since the teenager’s death, her family has been vilified on Facebook with people commenting that they used to abuse her because of her slack lifestyle and that they wanted monetary compensation for the alleged rape.
“People are saying all manner of things and I just want the truth to be out there… When my sister came home she Googled what to do when you are raped and she took off her underwear and placed it in a plastic bag. She was raped. She did not have a relationship with that man. There is nothing on her phone to suggest this. She called him 14 times in all her phone history and it was on a Saturday or Sunday when we used to [hire] him. There is no message or anything like that…,” Jordan said.
She also said that her sister’s phone had voice notes she sent to her friends informing them of the rape and what happened after. She questioned how the police never saw those. There was also a voice note she sent to her boyfriend informing him that her mother was sick and she did not want to lose her and instead she preferred to die.
“The whole narrative out there is that we abused our sister and caused her death. My baby sister is already dead and my mother is not well I don’t want to lose her either. I want justice for my sister and I want people to understand what really happened to her. The police never showed us no sympathy in all of this. It was like they treated us, including my sister, as if we did something wrong,” Jordan said.
She wants the matter to be investigated and the officers involved to be sanctioned.
“Our sister is dead and we got no justice… Why they had to make her sit and talk about her sex life in front of her mother? I am a big woman and I wouldn’t want to discuss what I do with my boyfriend with my mother,” she said.
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of committing suicide, you can seek help from the Inter-Agency Suicide Prevention Helpline through the following: Telephone: 223-0818, 223-0009 and 223-0001
Mobile: 600-7896 or 623-4444
Email: guyagency@yahoo.com
Twitter: @guyanaagency
Whatsapp: 600-7896 or 623-4444
Facebook: Guyana Inter-agency Suicide Prevention Helpline