Chinese couple in court over assault of girl, 11

Jan 09, 2013 News

The Chinese couple accused of assaulting an 11-year-old girl appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, yesterday. Jiang Pen Ren, 42, and her husband, Jun Zhang, 32, faced assault charges when they stood before Magistrate Judy Latchman.
The couple pleaded not guilty.

Jiang Pen Ren

Attorney at law Satesh Kissoon who represented the two accused, said that the woman became scared after she found the young girl dressed in a kemar in her living quarters.
The couple was subsequently placed on $80,000 bail each.
The 11-year-old victim allegedly suffered physical abuse at the hands of two Chinese nationals, after she was reportedly found roaming in their premises under “suspicious circumstances” last Friday.
The girl was allegedly attacked and beaten by the proprietors of Sino Mall located in the vicinity of Stabroek Market, opposite Demico House. The owners of the store had reported that the girl was found hiding in their apartment located at the top floor of the building.
The child, who is of Muslim persuasion, however claimed that she was never upstairs in the building, but that she was beaten and insulted by the Chinese couple due to a misunderstanding about her mode of dress.
She was wearing a kemar at the time, which she said the Chinese woman who attacked her described as a mask. She maintained that the woman accused her of stealing after she bent over to pick up a swimsuit that fell from a clothes rack.
The police were later summoned and the couple since have been charged and placed on bail. They are scheduled to return to court on January 28, next.
And a group of angry patrons and Muslim supporters yesterday staged a protest in front of Sino Mall, calling for justice for the child.
The protest was headed by social activist Mark Benschop and several other supporters, including Muslims, who deemed the action by the store owners as “inhumane and racial.”
“This is not anti-Chinese. I know Chinese who are very respectful; but what these people did to that 11-year-old girl is absolutely wrong. They say that they have video of the girl under the bed, then why don’t they show us the video?” Benschop asked “We are calling on people to boycott this store or any other store which will be disrespectful to anyone.”
While the protest was going on, persons were shouting, “Shut them down, they coming to Guyana and playing boss; y’all go in and empty that store; they playing mad, we are madder.”
During the protest, the child and her grandmother sat quietly and observed what was going on while the store owners were inside their store, anxiously conducting their daily business.

Some of the protesters

The proprietor of Sino Mall insisted that she never hit the little girl, “I never hit the girl, when I found her under meh bed I dragged her downstairs and she was trying to runaway so I hold her and she keeping pulling and knocking up she self on the clothes rack.’”
When asked whether she spit on the child, she replied, “No’ I de just finish eating beef and when I see her under my bed I start talking hard because I was mad, so like my saliva went into she face.”
“When I was pulling her I see a set of people run in and after the little girl see that she start to shout ‘Chinese beating me, Chinese beating me,” Ren stated.
One of the woman’s workers, who preferred to remain anonymous, confirmed that the business woman spat on the child’s face. The worker also admitted that the child was indeed in the woman’s room.
“I see when she bring the child downstairs but she didn’t beat her; she just pulled her to go to the station.”
And as the protest was going on, a number of persons including a child, went into the store and carried away haversacks.
The businesswoman frantically tried to close her store, but the protesters stood in front the door and avoided her from doing so. The police were eventually summoned.