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Sex, other abuses rock Enmore Children’s Home
– Mentally challenged woman pregnant for boy, 13
A nasty scandal in which a 13-year-old boy had sex with a mentally challenged woman, who is now pregnant, is among a number of other cases of abuse, mistreatment and fraud leveled against the Hope Children’s Home at Enmore, East Coast Demerara.
The Director of the Home, Kenneth Finlayson, has refused to confirm or deny the reports that the woman, 27, is pregnant and that he had taken her to have an abortion done on Tuesday.
The Church of Christ at Enmore which houses the Children
“I don’t think I should be giving you that information,” Finlayson told Kaieteur News when asked about the allegations. However, he was willing to speak on other allegations leveled against the home.
Sources close to the Home told Kaieteur News that Finlayson is trying to hide the matter, and when Kaieteur News confronted him, he said he would not discuss the matter at this time but would have to speak with the Child Protection Agency at the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security.
Pressed further, he said “children situations should not be published” and he said that even though the mentally challenged woman is 27 she is still counted as a child. While refusing to comment on the specific allegation, the pastor preferred to say all Homes have “situations” to deal with.
Kaieteur News has been reliably told that when it was first discovered that the 13-year-old boy had sex with the woman the Police arrested the boy, but he was subsequently released back into the Home.
“…We are caring for the children being placed in our care. All homes have situations to deal with…no situation is allowed to happen. You always try to protect every child that is in your care. All of us make mistakes in life.
“We care for every child to the best; not that you would not have situations that you need to look into,” Finlayson said.
He said males and females sleep separately in the Home. Sources inside the home told Kaieteur News that the woman wandered into the male section where the sexual act was carried out, completely missing the night staff at the institution. Finlayson told Kaieteur News that the Home has staff on duty on a 24-hour basis.
Meanwhile, Finlayson is also denying reports of other cases of abuse. Inside sources told Kaieteur News that a 10-year-old boy had his head banged into a wall by a teacher at the school run by the Home.
Finlayson said there was no truth to the matter, adding that the teacher denied the allegations when representatives of the school’s welfare division visited the Home to investigate.
The boy in question told Kaieteur News that the incident did happen. The boy said he was taking a book from another child at the home when the child started screaming.
“She (the teacher) hold me and carry me on de verandah, and she had me hanging over the rail,” the boy said.
“Ah cuss she and tell she meh back hutting. Then she move me and squeeze me up to the wall, and meh cuss she again and then she bounce meh head to the wall,” the boy told this newspaper.
Finlayson told Kaieteur News that the school has stopped corporal punishment, saying “spanking used to be.” However, he did not want to discuss how children are disciplined when they misbehave.
He referred to “several situations where children misbehave” and said they have to be dealt with, but said he would not get into the details of how that is done.
The Hope Children’s Home is meant to cater for children who were abandoned, abused, and neglected. Currently, Finlayson said the Home has 44 children.
The Home is mainly run by funds coming from the Vero Beach Church of Christy in Miami, Florida, and Finlayson said the Home also accepts donations from others who want to give.
The pastor denied allegations that he is still accepting donations from children who would have left the home.
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