Latest update February 14th, 2025 8:22 AM
Police accused of terrorizing 14-year-old girl with gun
A Craig, East Bank Demerara family is seeking justice, after allegedly enduring constant harassment and victimization by ranks attached to the Grove Police Station.
Wendy Barbosa, a mother of six, claimed that her children have been the steady target of the police. The woman said that police have raided her home, more than five times within recent months.
Wendy Barbosa
“Within the past month, the police came to my home twice, while I was not at home. They tumbled up my place and traumatized my children and did it with no proper explanation. I really don’t understand what they want from my family. I really don’t understand why they want to cause us this kind of discomfort.”
Combined with the distress she has experienced within the past several months, Barbosa believes that the police might have “crossed the line,” with their recent actions.
“Last Thursday, my 14 year old daughter called me around two o’clock in the afternoon to tell me that the police placed a gun to her head, raided our home and locked up my son and nephew.”
The woman said that she immediately left her place of business and hurried home.
“I am a vendor at the corner of Light Street … I reported to the Grove Police Station with my daughter. My 14 year old gave a statement to the officer and we both signed it. I kept asking for my son and nephew, who had been locked up. They released the boys a while later, no reason why they were locked up, no charge either.”
Recounting the ordeal, Barbosa’s 14 year old daughter said “on Thursday, I was at home with my brother and cousin and they had a male friend over, I don’t know him. About four policemen came up our steps. We left the door half open, so we could see outside, and so they came in and ordered us to stand up, they said put your hands in the air and two of them took me in the bedroom. The placed a gun to my head and then in my mouth and said that I must tell who else was in the house or they will shoot me.”
The Covent Garden Secondary School student said that the police had previously visited their house before to investigate reports of illegal sexual activity. The police reportedly received complaints that the house was a haven, where underage girls engage in sexual activities with older men.
“My mother not home a lot and sometimes my friends would come over to do assignment, especially when we get half day, the police investigated that but they never found any evidence. Someone close by might have had made a false report to the station and since then the police harassment has never stopped,” the teenager told this newspaper.
Attempts made by this newspaper to contact the officers of the Grove Police Station for a comment proved futile.
Barbosa believes that she has to take the necessary actions for justice to prevail. The woman plans to visit the Police Complaints Authority, the Amerindian Affairs Ministry and every human rights association to get help.
“I have been living in fear and I want this to stop. I need answers and I will go to the authorities with this because I have one teenage daughter, and three minor sons, ages four 17, 12 and 14,” she stated.
Presently her children are staying with relatives because “they don’t want to be home because they are scared, besides it’s not safe.”
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Protest electoral tyranny
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- There comes a time in the life of a nation when silence is no longer an option, when the... more
OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus
Antiguan Barbudan Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The upcoming election... more
Weekend Cartoon
