Surinamese preacher accused of raping 12-yr-old Guyanese girl

Jun 21, 2023 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

– preys on child since she was 8

Kaieteur News – A preacher from a church in Paramaribo, Suriname is being accused of grooming and raping a 12-year-old Guyanese girl since she was eight-years-old.

The child, who was born in Suriname to Guyanese parents, has been residing with her mother in the neighbouring country ever since she was a baby. Speaking with Kaieteur News on Tuesday in the presence of her mother and another relative, the young girl detailed how it all started by a man– a preacher who she trusted, who her mother had trusted since his family had offered to take care of her when her mother went off to work.

The young girl explained to this publication that she first met the preacher at the age of eight. The young girl related that at the time she and mother were staying with her grandmother in Paramaribo. One day her grandmother took her to a church in the community where the man would carry out worship services when the pastors were not around. There she met him through her grandmother and after he had offered them clothes for her and her mother. “It begin when my grandmother was bringing me to church, the same church where he was going, he saw my grandmother and he and her start talking and he said that how he get clothes for me and my mother and then she said okay then she would send me, and then she send me and he give me clothes and from then I start going and going,” the child recalled.

After a while the girl said she had stopped living with the grandmother. The mother related to this publication that after meeting with the preacher and his family, they had formed a connection with them and since she was not living with the grandmother anymore, she would ask for the preacher and his family to look after her daughter since she would have to go to work in another area some 30 minutes away from where they lived. She added that the girl would sometimes sleepover and spends the weekends at the pastor while she would do other jobs just to make ends meet.

The young girl continued that one afternoon when she had to stay with the family since her mother went away for work, she was playing in the yard with some friends and had complained to the preacher that her tummy was aching. “A day I was running with some children and my belly was hurting and he said he would massage me, when he start massaging my belly he then pushed his hands under my clothes,” she recalled. She said the man then fondled her. She mentioned that he had allegedly threatened to kill her and her mother if she only talked about what happened. Fearful of her safety and her mother’s, the young girl said she had stayed quiet about what had happened to her.

The child went onto state that after a few weeks, the man then began to trouble her in the nights, when his family was asleep. She alleged that he would continue to molest and kiss her. According to her, this behaviour had continued many nights and days since she was eight years old. She claimed that the preacher would sometimes cover her mouth and physically abuse her so as to keep her mouth shut or from screaming.

When asked if she had ever once reported this to her mother, she said that one time she did, telling her that she did not want to stay with the preacher’s family anymore. She said at the time she did not state the reason for that because she was afraid. On another occasion the girl recalled telling her mother about an incident where the man had kissed her but this was dismissed by her mother. Her mother said at the time she did not take it for anything serious. She said too that she had even told the man’s daughter, but according to her, the daughter dismissed the allegations stating that she was lying and was “only looking to start trouble”.

The young girl claimed that she continued to stay silent about what was happening to her, and the grooming continued. She further claimed that when she was 10 years, she was home and one of the preacher’s eldest sons was home too. She shared that on that day he had allegedly sexually molested and kissed her. Afraid of getting into trouble, she did not speak of the incident. The victim who is now residing in Guyana, said that before moving Guyana, earlier this year she was allegedly raped by the preacher.

The young girl recalled that: “It was night time, my tummy was hurting bad, then I tell the aunty (preacher’s wife) and then she tell the preacher, then he give me a single tablet and I drank some water. I then left and went outside and went into the hammock and was talking to a friend and just so I start see things spinning around me, and everything was shaking, and then I started to walk to the step and there I just pee up myself and just got blackout.”

She further claimed that the next morning, when she woke up, she was in another clothes. She said she had woken up with pain in her tummy, her private part, her legs and was experiencing a headache. Not knowing what had happened, the mother said her daughter had come home, and was complaining that she was bleeding. The woman said she gave her a pad thinking her daughter was experiencing her menstruation. That had lasted for only a day, the girl said. It was shortly after this just before her 12^th birthday that they decided to move to Guyana by other relatives.

The young girl said that when she got here, she then confided with another grandmother as to what had happened to her back in Suriname. The young girl said sometimes, she would not want to share what was happening with her to her mother given the situation they were living in at the time. Kaieteur News was told that the family plans to take legal action against the man and file a report to the police in Suriname.