The Guyana Police Force (GPF) yesterday said that an investigation has been launched by its internal affairs unit of the conduct of ranks in a rape allegation case where the complainant later died by suicide.
In a news item in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek, the family of 18-year-old Tonika Calder blamed officers at the Cove and John Police Station for her death by suicide because of the way they handled her allegation of rape against a taxi driver.
In the statement yesterday, the GPF said that it had “noted, with concern, an article published in the Stabroek News of Sunday November 28, 2021 under the caption `Family of suicide victim says police mishandling rape allegation contributed to her death.’“The article states that an 18-year-old female made a report to the police of rape committed on her by a taxi-driver, and subsequently took her own life allegedly because of the unprofessional way in which police ranks conducted their investigations into the report.