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CID investigates Region Seven TIP incident

Jul 09, 2013 News

 

 

…accused police ranks under close arrest

By Abena Rockcliffe
Two police ranks attached to Sherima Police Station who were accused of raping victims of Trafficking in Persons (TIP) are now under close arrest at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters.
Kaieteur News has also learnt that all five of the victims are in Georgetown and have given their statements at CID headquarters.
On Sunday, five women were rescued from the sex trade in Region Seven. The rescue was the work of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) in partnership with the Guyana Women Miners Organization (GWMO).
Two of the rescued females accused two ranks of Sherima Police Station of rape.
According to reports the two policemen allegedly raped the young women to allow them and their “madam” access into the 14 Mile Issano, Seven mining District.
Simona Broomes, GWMO president, said that the ages of the five TIP victims were 14, 16, 18, 20 and 26 years.
From all indications, the young ladies believed that they were going to be gainfully employed in a shop in the interior. However, reality quickly forced itself upon the naïve bunch when they were forced to hide under an old zinc sheet in a truck at the security check point at the Sherima Police Station.
They reportedly hit the zinc sheet to gain the police’s attention but their source of “help” soon became enemy as well.
Instead of preventing the girls from entering the backdam without identification, the police allegedly demanded sex and it all went on in a barrack room on a bench.
In light of the incident, Natural Resources and the Environment Minister, Robert Persaud yesterday issued a statement calling on officers of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission and the Guyana Forestry Commission to exercise a higher level of vigilance at its various check points to continue to support the campaign against TIP and underage workers in the hinterland.
However, no comments came from the Ministry of Human Resources on the issue as yet. Broomes said that she contacted the Ministry and informed it of the issue but couldn’t confirm if the Ministry will be working along with her on this one.
In May, after a similar rescue by Broomes, leader of the Majority Opposition-A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)—Brigadier David Granger, emphasized his call for President Donald Ramotar to set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate Trafficking in Persons. The call was cemented in the National Assembly when Mr. Granger moved the Motion titled, “Appointment of a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the incidence of Trafficking in Persons in Guyana”.
Granger told the National Assembly that Trafficking in Persons is a form of modern day slavery. He added that it is a crime against women and children.
Taking a swipe at the government, Granger said that denial of the existence of TIP in Guyana makes matters worse. Granger also pointed out that the state is responsible for protecting those persons.
Recently, Granger criticized the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration’s failure to act “decisively to stamp out the scourge of trafficking in persons.”
Citing the US Department of State’s annual ‘Trafficking in Person’s Report’ which “usually gives Guyana an unfavourable ‘Tier 2’ ranking”, Granger called on the Government to reorganize the Guyana Police Force to enable it to enforce the law and comply with international conventions against trafficking.
Granger said that Guyana’s biggest problems with regard to human trafficking are those of poor enforcement by the police and the widespread perception by perpetrators that their crimes will go unpunished.

 

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