Sisters 9,8 and 7 identify abusers

Feb 18, 2010 News

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… and a 12-year-old claims her stepfather, father violated her

The three sisters, aged nine, eight and seven, whose sexual molestations have sparked a major controversy in the community of Logwood, Enmore, East Coast Demerara, positively identified some of the alleged perpetrators yesterday.
Police sources at Cove and John, where five suspects are being held, told this newspaper that the children were able to point out at least two of the men in custody.
An official of the Ministry of Human Services who travelled with them from the West Demerara Regional Hospital where they are currently receiving treatment accompanied the children.
The police source said that a report on the matter would now be prepared and sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions for advice.
The three sisters fingered several men in Enmore as sexually molesting them, causing them significant physical damage. So severe is the physical damage that a doctor has described it as devastating.
But while the parents of the children as well as officials from the Ministry of Human Services are convinced that the children were sexually assaulted, neighbours were adamant that the men from their village were wrongfully implicated.
Among the five persons detained are a 53-year-old man and a physically challenged resident who is wheelchair-bound.
Director of Social Services at the Ministry of Human Services, Ann Greene told Kaieteur News, yesterday, that her department would be carrying out investigations both at Enmore and on the West Coast of Demerara where the children resided with their aunt immediately prior to the shocking discovery.
She said that based on her experience, it could be that the children were molested at both locations.
Officers from the Social Services Department have been interviewing the children in the presence of the police in order to obtain every bit of detail that would assist in the investigations.
“But they need to investigate the environment where the children lived. It is unlikely that they will be sent back to their parental home,” Greene told this newspaper.
From all indications the children’s parents who are both alcoholics care very little about their children, Green indicated.
She said that her department has not ruled out the children’s father as one of the suspects.
The man who was questioned by detectives on the East Coast of Demerara told Kaieteur News on Tuesday that he was unaware that his children were being sexually molested, while they were living with him at Enmore.
“The children they never come and tell me nothing because they know that me is a serious father. They never come and tell we nothing so we didn’t know wha going on,” the children’s father had stated.
He denied making up the story, claiming that it was his children who revealed the names of the members in the community who had molested them.
“If they (the children) de come forward and tell me this, I would’a step quick into it. You know, is something that I never know and I never see,” he added.
The children’s aunt, who took them to live with her on the West Coast of Demerara last year July, told this newspaper that on February 9, last, she received some information that her nine-year-old niece was seen in a compromising position with a male student at the school.
Upon questioning the child she realized that she was being evasive.
Maureen said that she pressed further, enquiring from her niece whether she was sexually molested before.
There and then the shocking details were revealed.
The children revealed episodes of being sexually molested by neighbours some of whom are grown men with wives.
They revealed the names of about 15 persons from Logwood, Enmore who had molested them.
According to Maureen, the children revealed that neighbours would call them to do little chores in exchange for food.
However when the chores were completed, the children would be coerced into performing oral and anal sex.
They also spoke of being made to drink urine, which was placed, into soft drink bottles as well as smoke marijuana, which was given to them by the alleged molesters.
According to the Director of Social Services, as soon as health officials give the all clear for them to be discharged from hospital, the children will be exposed to therapy.
And Greene disclosed that her department rescued a 12-year-old girl yesterday following reports that over an extended period of time her stepfather who has since been taken into police custody sexually molested her.
Kaieteur News understands that the child had confided in her mother but was dismissed and sent to live with her biological father in Lethem.
But there too she was not spared. It is alleged that her father also sexually assaulted her.
After returning to her mother’s home, the child sought the ears of neigbours who subsequently reported the matter to the Human Services Ministry.

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