THE Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security must be commended for completing its internal investigation in relation to the gruesome murder of 16-year-old Neesa Gopaul.
It was a welcome departure from the customary procrastination associated with investigations and inquiries and one would hope that this will set the pace for others to follow.
As was suspected all along, the probe found that there was gross negligence of duty on the part of some staffers within the ministry and, quite rightly, one of the recommendations coming out of the investigation is strong disciplinary action against those culpable, including dismissal.
According to Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Ms. Priya Manickchand, this particular case was with the Childcare and Protection Agency for almost one year, having first been reported by Neesa, who was accompanied by a teacher from Queen’s College, on October 19, 2009.
The matter was referred to case worker number one.
The ministry’s response to that report was to remove Neesa and her younger sister from their home and place them in the care of their maternal grandparents, who soon after returned the children to their mother on the stated basis that the $8,000 per week they were receiving for maintaining the children was not enough.
The case worker did not report this development to her superior, as is mandatory. Neesa, who had also been receiving counselling, discontinued the sessions.
Case worker number one made several attempts to contact Neesa at her home, even soliciting the assistance of the police to assist, to no avail, until subsequently, against the strictures of the Principal, she spoke to Neesa at her school and reported that Neesa had indicated then that she was no longer being abused and that she had no wish to continue her counselling sessions, something else that the case worker neglected to report to her superior.
While those who have shirked their responsibility will be disciplined, the society cannot shirk its collective responsibility. Everyone has the responsibility to help expose and correct wrongdoings in the society.
This was alluded to by Minister Manickchand in her presentation Thursday on the investigation.
She said: “As a society, we share a collective responsibility to protect the vulnerable amongst us, particularly our children. Let us all take stock and do our level best to report abuse whereever we see it and to respond to abuse in the appropriate ways whenever we find it.
“The Ministry of Human Services and Social Security will continue to provide leadership and service and we invite all citizens and organisations to work with us.
“Let me repeat what I said to the press the last time. ‘I renew our call to all parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, guardians, educators and communities, to come forward with information about child abuse wherever it may be occurring’. The system of disclosure has worked effectively in the past to protect our vulnerable children, and this horrific incident must serve to make our various efforts stronger.”
Neesa Gopaul’s is a most unfortunate and sad saga and all caring people should make a pledge that there will be no more tragedies such as hers.
Society simply cannot allow such loss of life. If it does, all would have been failing in discharging their humanitarian obligations.