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Juvenile in police lockups…Rose Hall teen released into mother’s custody
The days of sharing a cell with adult prisoners has come to an end for the 15-year-old girl who was being held at the Whim Police Station lockups on the Corentyne. On Thursday, the teen was let go into her mother’s custody.
The teen’s mother, Bridgette Moore
The release was made one day after her 48-year-old mother, took to the streets to protest the teen’s detention. Bridgette Moore had protested the Chancellor’s Office at the Court of Appeal, Kingston on Wednesday, calling for justice.
There she recorded her dissatisfaction with the way her daughter was being passed through the system as a result of decisions Magistrate Marissa Mittelholzer had taken at the Albion Court.
The young girl had been remanded during her first court appearance on July 12, last on an assault charge. The majority of the time the teen had been languishing in the Whim Police Station lockups.
Kaieteur News contacted the family by telephone on Thursday and the teen’s mother expressed sheer joy that her young daughter is back in her care. “I’m really glad to have her back after all that she went through,” the mother of nine said.
Moore said she was summoned to the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court the day after her protest where the decision to release the teen into her custody was made.
The 15-year-old was also elated. She described the time she spent in custody as “punishment” as she claims she had been exposed to some inhumane conditions in the police lockups.
The teen was being tossed between places: the lockups in Berbice and the Sophia Juvenile Centre in the city as a result of the remand order the Magistrate had handed down.
According to reports, the 15-year-old was slapped with an assault charge after attempting to defend her pregnant sister, who came under attack from an older woman. The matter was forwarded to the Rose Hall Police Station and the teenager was subsequently hauled before the courts.
At her very first court hearing on July 12, Magistrate Mittelholzer remanded her.
Policy dictates that youths older than 10 but younger than 17, who come into conflict with the law, are not supposed to be detained in the same environment with adult offenders.
The Juvenile Holding Centre, in effect, is the facility where youths should be detained but the girl was being kept in the lockups with older prisoners.
The family of the teenager had called on the relevant authorities to look into the situation with some urgency, especially since the teenager had been returned to the station lockups last week after a brief time at the holding centre.
Kaieteur News understands that a concerned government Minister had played a major role in reuniting the family.
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