A MOTHER is crying out for assistance and knocking on all relevant doors as she attempts to get justice for her 14-year-old daughter who was reportedly raped by a police constable last year.

The policeman is yet to be charged, even as he has been transferred to the Tactical Services Unit as the investigation continues.

Since this publication broke the story last October, the mother of the young lady has been seeking to be updated on the matter. She has visited the Guyana Police Force hierarchy, the Childcare and Protection Agency, and even the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecution for an update, something she said is sometimes hard to come by.

Although this reporter had indicated to this mother that some investigations, particularly rape, take a lot of time for a proper case to be built in order to ensure successful prosecution, the mother is of the view that the system is taking way too long, and she said her child is gradually losing all hope and faith in the system.

Each time the mother of the child visits the newsroom of the Guyana Chronicle to speak of the slothfulness with which the matter is being addressed, she breaks down in tears. She would often say that while her child might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, the lawman who allegedly took advantage of her ought not to have done so, since she had gone to him for protection when the incident occurred.

Last October, the private school student went missing from her home, and the police later arrested several persons for her disappearance.
The child indicated to the police and social workers that while she was away from her home, with a friend who had promised to take her into the interior and provide her with a smart phone, house and cash, that individual did not touch her inappropriately. From all indication, the individual was attempting to traffic the young lady into the interior, a practice with which he has been associated with young ladies from the East Bank Corridor.

The child claimed that she was being held against her will by that individual and her friends, when she managed to escape from a vehicle. She then made her way to the home of the policeman, who lives along the East Bank Demerara.

According to her, she is familiar with the policeman and went to inform him that she had been abducted and held against her will.

SICK ACTION
Instead of assisting the young lady, and doing the lawful thing by reporting the matter to the police station, the policeman reportedly had sex with the young lady at his home.

While investigating the matter of abduction of the teenager after she had resurfaced, the police stumbled on information that placed a policeman from the very police station which was investigating the matter at the centre of it all. The rank was arrested, made to give a statement, placed under close arrest, and then subsequently transferred to the Tactical Services Unit, where he remains to this day.

Yesterday, the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecution confirmed that the file pertaining to the matter of rape of the 14-year-old girl was indeed engaging the attention of the DPP. The file was sent by the police for the DPP’s perusal and legal advice, but has not yet been returned to the police. The mother of the child came to this publication in tears several days ago, saying that she visited the DPP’s Chambers and was informed that the file was not there, and that the police were the ones looking at the file.

CONFUSED
The woman also claimed that when she visited the police at Brickdam, she was told that the file was sent to the DPP Chambers. Comments and information of this sort have placed the woman in a state of confusion.

The child’s father, who is scheduled to leave Guyana, reportedly cancelled his travel as he vowed to ensure that justice is served for his daughter before he leaves the country.

What is unclear, and what this publication sought to clarify in vain yesterday, was whether the police were investigating a case of abduction of the teenager. The initial investigation involving the teen started with a case of investigating her abduction, as she was reportedly being held against her will; but when the matter of the alleged rape committed by the policeman came up, there was no more mention of the investigation into the abduction, which was being conducted by the Timehri Police Station.

Days after the policeman who reportedly raped the girl was picked up and placed under close arrest, his sister, who works as a doctor at the Georgetown Public Hospital, reportedly approached the mother of the teenager to settle the matter.

This sister’s approach was to have the teenager return to the police and lie to contradict her initial statement, as she had instructed the mother of the child to tell the police that she lied about the whole story involving the police, and that she is a child who had made up the entire story against the cop.

That conversation was caught on tape and provided to this publication. The mother of the child was advised by the Childcare and Protection Agency to report that aspect of the unfolding events to the police at the Brickdam Police Station, so that charges could be laid against the doctor, but is it unclear also if the woman ever made a move in that direction, and what is the status of that aspect of the entire ordeal.