NOREEN
NO mother should have to bury her child, but *Ellen is burying her sixteen-year-old daughter *Noreen today.  She is her daughter’s murderess.
She is the murderess of the child’s childhood; she is the murderess of the child’s adolescence; she is the murderess of the child’s motherhood; she is the murderess of the child’s future, and all her inherent potential for growth, development, and the contributions she could have made to her country and the world.

Indirectly, Ellen murdered her child.  As this article is being written, a post-mortem is being conducted on her body; but whatever the findings, Noreen’s mother is her ultimate killer.
Approximately a year ago, the Chronicle published a story of two girls who had allegedly been abducted by two men in a truck; but neighbours and those who had known the family’s lifestyle – and the greed for money and material things without working to provide for themselves — were adamant that the girls had known the men, and had gone willingly with them.
One of the girls was twelve-year-old *Mina and the other was her fourteen-year-old aunt Noreen, who had been going out with boys, living home at times, even during her pre-teen years.
Mina’s mother made a fuss only when the man she had been with had left her stranded, with no money, in a hotel; but the perpetrator quickly paid up when the mother threatened to have him arrested.  Today, Mina is not quite fourteen, but she is quite adept at the oldest profession in the world, with the mother and/or grandmother sharing in the plunder – or else!  They do not see it as prostitution, but consider it merely as accepting gifts from men with whom they have relationships – even though that ‘relationship’ may be only one sexual encounter.  The grandmother still lives ‘that way’, especially since her husband’s death last year gave her maximum freedom. All her daughters, and now her grand-daughters, live ‘that way’.  Their motto is “ketch a man and rob he”, whatever they have to do to achieve this.
The sad thing is that a couple of the women had truly been loved and well-treated by the sometimes very decent men they had ‘caught’, but they could never settle down and create a home and family, often having affairs until their devastated and destroyed partners are left emotional wrecks in the wake of their manipulative endeavours.
They have no qualms in destroying relations to get their way, and many a mother of their victims has grieved endlessly for her son.  Children born out of these unions become collateral damage in the never-ending quest for acquisition of the easy life.
Noreen delivered a baby girl last August, and had been having complications until her death last Tuesday, leaving her infant daughter motherless – and the vicious cycle continues until someone rescues that child.

SHAQUILLE
Shaquille Grant could have transported himself out of the shadows of murder and criminality into which he had been born; except that a policeman’s bullet cut him down at age sixteen before he could fulfill that promise.
Shaquille was mannerly, ambitious, and goal-oriented; but he could not escape a fate carved out for him by the people who should have nurtured and guided him, but whose greed for unearned wealth left him vulnerable to perceptions and speculations.
Shaquille’s uncle, Seon Grant, called “Troyee” had been part of one of the most murderous gangs of bandits, the feared and notorious Rondel “Fine Man” Rawlins and  Jermaine  “Skinny” Charles gang; and, like Charles and Rawlins, he died in the abyss of the underworld and netherworld of crime; scythed down in a hail of police bullets in the backlands of Guyana – all of the riches that he had stolen left for enjoyment of others who had never worked a day in their lives, buying houses and cars and enjoying themselves, while he lived and died like an animal in the prime of his life, after having been encouraged by political leaders and relatives that his race was being ‘marginalized’, and he had a right to acquire wealth, not through his own efforts and hard work, but by robbing and even killing others who had made the effort and the sacrifices for their hard-earned acquisitions.
Murderous thieves and home invaders are more and more proving to be progressively younger men; and the police are becoming increasingly frustrated by political, social and justice systems that encourage anti-social and criminal behaviours of the youths, even in schools where schoolboys walk with weapons and have injured each other, even causing death; attacked teachers; and have even been caught in acts of armed robbery. And when police come under fire from these young men and retaliate in self-defence, the political opportunists encourage mayhem in the land
Thus on one hand citizens are claiming that police are not doing enough to curtail crime in the country; then, on the other hand, when the police act, they come under vicious attack by citizens of the very society they are trying to protect, encouraged by the intellectual architects of most criminal activities in Guyana – politicians seeking self-aggrandizement and power through undemocratic processes.

Agricola has been known to have spawned some of the deadliest criminals, including Rawlins, Charles and Grant, all very young men.  On the day Shaquille died, the police had received a tip that a group of young men from that community had been planning a robbery.  Police ranks claim they had come under fire from the group of young men with whom Shaquille had been when he was slain by a police bullet, but villagers are disputing this.
However, as was revealed during the Linden CoI hearings, members of such communities have been known to circle the wagons against police in order to protect their own, instead of adhering to the principles of right and wrong; or respecting the laws of the land. They forget that a criminal has no loyalty, and that they may be the next victim.
From all indications, Shaquille was, as acting Police Commissioner Brummell said, “…in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
     Even if Rawlins and Charles had visited the community to which they had belonged, decent, law-abiding young men with whom they had grown up may innocently have stopped to converse with them; and if the police had been tipped off and had opened fire in retaliation to protect themselves from the known-to-be-deadly criminals, then bullets do not have intelligence to separate the criminal from the law-abiding citizen.
Until parents love their children enough to stop sending them into the jaws of death so they can accrue ill-gained wealth; and elders of communities recognize the stigma anti-social and criminal behaviours of a few can leave on their entire community, and expose the criminals in their midst instead of sheltering them, many innocent young men like Shaquille would become “collateral damage” to the manipulation of opportunistic politicians and greedy relatives.
     
NEESA
In happier times, Neesa Gopaul was a much-beloved child, until her mother, Bibi Sharima Gopaul, took a lover; then her life went downhill all the way, until it was cruelly and brutally ended sometime between September 24 and October 2, 2010, at Madewini, along the Soesdyke/Linden Highway. The child’s body was found stuffed in a suitcase in the Madewini Creek near the Emerald Tower Resort, battered almost beyond recognition. First thought to be headless, the post- mortem revealed that she had been so badly beaten with what is alleged to be Jarvis’s dumbbells that the remnants of her head had sunk into her neck.
This bestial, horrifying murder had allegedly been committed by her own mother and the latter’s lover, Jarvis Small, called Barry, when justice, mercy and compassion were mortgaged and a mother’s love put on the auction block of greed and lust.
Stabroek News had reported thus: “Months before Neesa Lalita Gopaul’s body was found at Emerald Tower, she told relatives that she was locked in her room by her mother’s lover, and also sent emails to a US-based relative, in which she reportedly spoke of other instances of abuse, drug use, and her father’s “suspicious” death.

As investigations continue into Neesa’s tragic death and the details of abuse she had reportedly suffered, some relatives now regret not having listened to the teen, and are voicing suspicion about her father’s death.”  
Neesa was then a straight ‘A’ student at Guyana’s premier high school, Queen’s College.

“Neesa used to tell us a lot of things about how horrible a life she was living…She told friends, she told teachers, she told everybody…” Then, subsequently, a straight ‘A’ student attending the premier high school in the country dropped out of the radar of academia, and no-one, except her friends – all voiceless juveniles like herself — was concerned.

What kind of teachers would ignore a child’s pleas for help? What kind of teachers would not explore the reason for retrogression in a brilliant child’s scholastic performance? And worse, being cognizant of the child’s situation, with physical evidence of battery evident, what kind of teacher would completely disregard that child’s non-attendance at school, especially when that child has become incommunicado even by telephone?
The answers to these questions are the kind of teacher who would refuse the request of the child’s schoolmates for expression of sympathy to be shown by the school, and say that they “…want nothing to do with the incident.” The kind of adults in the administrative construct of the school who consider that Neesa Lalita Gopaul’s tragic life after her father’s passing and her brutal murder at the hands of persons, one of whom she should have trusted above all others, have disgraced the school’s “good name”.
What messages are these adults — supposedly responsible persons tasked with moulding the minds of the nation’s young people — sending to the young children under their care? That justice, mercy, and compassion are mortgaged to expediency and a “good name”, even if that “good name” is duplicitous and covers a multitude of sins and wrongdoings.
The system is failing the vulnerable in society. Police took a report made by a minor, of her being forcibly drugged, sexually molested, and abused in many other ways. Tests proved that the child had one of the worst and most addictive drugs in her system; so, obviously, that child was under coercive influences. And when she was forced to retract her report, then being a minor, that retraction should have been viewed with suspicion, and investigations should have been mounted into the circumstances of her situation.
As in many instances, this neglect by persons sworn “to protect and serve” vulnerable persons in the society has resulted in the death of a very innocent and helpless young girl, who was subjected to the most bestial treatment until she was finally and brutally killed, which may have been merciful for her, because no-one cared enough to rescue her from her life in a man (and woman)-made hell.
All the laws passed, all the institutions established, all the fancy, well-furnished and equipped offices constructed cannot disguise the fact that many of the initiatives programmed to address pertinent issues relative to the vulnerable and helpless in society, especially the children, are talk shops wherein NGOs are established to access funding grants that are then diverted into private usage to facilitate enhanced individual lifestyles. And social platforms are created for officials who use the systems to enhance public image and personal lifestyle, wherein their physical appearance and social status reign paramount, and supersede their mandate and responsibilities, causing many of society’s poor and helpless people to fall through the cracks.
Everybody knows everybody’s business in rural communities; so the licentious lifestyle of a young wife, whom we will call Nadia, who had a reputation for partying and cheating on her much-older husband, would have been known to a ruthless man and his wife who coveted the property of Nadia’s husband. And one can only visualize the avaricious couple strategizing on how to dispose of the husband, then control the woman to gain access to her inherited property. The only fly in the ointment was that the property had not been left to the hypothetical Nadia, but to her minor daughters; so those daughters had to be gotten rid of in order that Nadia could consequently inherit, with the covetous duo ultimately acceding to everything.
After subjecting the elder daughter to a life of unimaginable hell, and taking her out of public scrutiny, she was finally eliminated from the equation; and it was only a matter of time before the other daughter would have become the target of the unholy trio. A mother put her love on the auction block and had her child’s life forfeited. Having failed Neesa in life, would the system again fail her now that she is dead?
The maternal relatives, who did not care enough, and had refused to rescue the helpless and hapless young Neesa from her hellish life because they said the $8,ooo per week they had been offered for her keep was insufficient, even after Neesa had told them about her terrible ordeal and had begged them to take her, have no problems with now taking into their custody her then five-year-old sister, Miriam. After all, this child is a minor, and there is still much property at stake; and in today’s world, justice, mercy and compassion – even love — are often mortgaged to avariciousness.

Falling through the cracks
When God gifted Adam and Eve with Paradise, He gave them a choice that would have enabled them to either remain in the Garden of Eden or live a life in which human frailties would impact the quality and comprehensiveness of the landscape and the lives of all of their descendants.

They made the latter choice.
The all-powerful Lord could have merely created Mankind with all the virtues, which he did, with the added dimension of allowing everyone the option to choose either the pathway to Heaven, or to follow Satan’s edicts.

This is the genesis of democracy, and the forerunner of all parliamentary configurations which are supposed to be the bastions of human laws and the caretakers of human rights.

Within the construct of humanity, there is one primary equation that should be inviolate — the sanctity of the family. But because of serious breaches in that bastion fortifying the protection of family units, intercessions are sometimes necessary to invest a degree of protective legislation into the equation, especially where there are spouses who batter their domestic partners repeatedly, but are yet set free with the ultimate consequence of finally depriving that partner of her life.

And here I lay blame squarely at the feet of the guardians of the law, because theirs are oftentimes the decisions and the actions or inactions that determine the fate of the innocent victims, and the casualties of the demonic actions.
Hence, the various pieces of legislation driven by former Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Ms Priya Manickchand.
But sometimes legislation is not enough, and the justice system fails the society.

Neesa Gopaul fell through the cracks of the system, and eventually met her death at the hands of the very people she should have trusted most in the world.
Ms Manickchand expressed appreciation at the public outcry over the case, and said she was absolutely encouraged by the public outcry that was made after Neesa’s murder. “I felt encouraged and inspired by that outcry, as child abuse and abuse of women (are) so often met with apathy from society in general that that alone sometimes is daunting.”

She said that, policy-wise, everything was in place for such a tragedy not to have happened. Manuals and protocols have been written, training on said manuals done, and officers at the agency do only child protection work; as compared to other officers in the Ministry, who do general duties, which include so much that their expertise is sometimes stretched.

“It is incumbent on officers to do what is required of them, not be lazy or ignorant of laws and/or best practices when dealing with the nation’s children. If this does not happen, if officers do not do what they have sworn to do, what they are paid to do, then we cannot ensure that this does not happen again.”

Yet, shortly after this interview, a single father, a widower whose wife had died leaving him with three daughters to raise alone, was jailed by a magistrate for inflicting corporal punishment on his 14-year-old schoolgirl daughter who had, from all reports, been engaging in sexual activities with adult men since she was 13 years old.
Any single parent – male or female — would sympathise and empathise with a parent who single-handedly has to provide for the material and every other need of three girl children. It is a daunting task for anyone.

The man had reported her sexual activities and proclivities to the Brickdam Police Station, which should have resulted in the arrest of the adult male perpetrator with whom she had been engaging in sexual activities; and her father had also sought the help of the Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA), which was the very agency that had failed Neesa Gopaul.

The father accused the agency of providing no response to his entreaties for help, and that he had appealed no less than nine times for help for his 13-to-14-year-old daughter.

In this society, this type of father, who is not derelict in his responsibilities toward his motherless children, deserves accolades. And any parent in such a situation would understand the utter frustration that drove him to commit an admittedly criminal act of inflicting corporal punishment on the girl.

The system has once more failed victims; and certainly the father himself is a victim of circumstances and an uncaring society, which has inflicted further injustice on him by jailing him instead of providing the necessary counselling, and even the help that he obviously needs.

What has the justice system achieved by jailing this father, obviously buoyed by the popular hype of domestic violence, without taking into consideration the extraneous circumstances? It has taken a father of minor daughters away from them. It has stopped the income flow into the home. Who will now provide the wherewithal for the survival of the girls while their father is locked away? And it may very well precipitate a situation wherein the father gives up on his delinquent daughter, who may in turn feel she has absolute freedom to pursue a destructive way of life with all its implications, instead of inculcating the education and values her father had been trying to instil in her.

The Minister had also said, following the Neesa Gopaul incident, “What we have to do is put in place enough measures to catch a lack of follow-up on a particular matter before it becomes too late.
“…this sort of horror obtains in many other countries that have services far more advanced in experience as well as resources than we do. Guyana faces the same challenges those other countries face in their child protective services; and while we have far less resources than most of those other countries, we are well on the way to putting those preventive measures in place.”

In 2008, Government published a national policy on domestic violence, titled “Break the Cycle, Take Control.” It is a five-year policy. In that publication, one of the issues highlighted to be confronted and offered is counselling for perpetrators, while in no way interfering with the policy to first address the safety of the complainant.

Government has also expanded Legal Aid services to six regions of Guyana, with an intention of furthering that service. Funding, to ensure a shelter stays open and available to victims of violence and their children, has also been provided; and protocols that would be needed by the police, prosecutors, magistrates and social workers have been established.

In addition, Government has trained service providers who are to use those protocols.

Yet, despite these myriad interventions at the level of Central Government, the victims continue to fall through the cracks.      
Mothers should not have to bury their children, except when they are themselves – either directly or indirectly — their children’s killers.
*Not their real names