Citizens are seeking refuge abroad because of sex crimes committed against them

Jan 27, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,
The SN article dated January 21, 2009 titled “Gang-raped girl granted refugee status in Canada”, has cast the Guyana law enforcement agency and the Government in a bad light.
In the article, it was reported that a 15-year-old Guyanese school girl was gang-raped and brutalized by three men. Immigration Consultant Balwant Persaud stated that these men have high connections in high places in Guyana. He provided evidence to the Refugee Board of Canada which substantiated his claim that there are many such cases in Guyana.
It is clear that, as a result of Balwant’s convincing submission to the Refugee Board of Canada, on October 7, 2008, the Judge decided to grant this abused child refugee status.
As Guyanese, we should all raise our voices in one accord to denounce this kind of savage and brutal treatment meted out to our children. It is shameful to see our children having to resort to seeking sanctuary in another country because of sex crimes committed against them, crimes which are apparently not investigated, or where the culprits are not brought to answer for same because of supposedly high-tech connections.
What has our nation become? Our citizens are forced to flee and file for refugee status elsewhere, because of sexual violence committed against them. This development certainly projects us as an inhumane society in which sexual predators seem to evade the law quite easily. It also indicates that women’s and children’s rights are rapidly eroding and remains largely unchecked.
I wish this teenager a speedy recovery, and trust that she will rise beyond the travesty she experienced. I, however, believe that critical to her road to recovery is that justice be served in her situation. I therefore wish to enquire from the Commissioner of Police whether any report was made in relation to this incident, and that the public be aware of the status of the investigation by his department.
If no report was made, it would be in the interest of the Government to launch an investigation into this most serious crime, in order that justice be served in this case.
We cannot allow these sex offenders and heartless beings to believe that they can just commit such crimes and feel that they are allowed to escape the law because their victims will run away to seek refugee status elsewhere. And that is definitely not the message we want to send to the world.
The perpetrators of this crime must be brought to justice, and their alleged connections must be known. Sexual violence against women and children must not be tolerated. A young Guyanese has lost the right to live peacefully in her own land because of savage, cowardly beings who lack the moral, cultural, and spiritual fibre of decent, civilized human beings.
Lurlene Nestor

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