THE Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA) is working along with the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to locate the guardians of a child who was seen in a video on social media being held down and beaten with a piece of wood.

Earlier in the week, the video took social media by storm as many persons were disturbed by its contents and the fact that it was captured and shared on social media in the first place. The video shows a teenaged girl being held facedown by a man while her female guardian beat her on her rear end with a thick piece of wood. Even as the young girl kicked and cried for the beatings to stop, a female voice in the background could be heard encouraging the woman to administer more beating.

Many persons on social media were not in favour of the actions taken by the guardian and expressed that there is a difference between disciplining a child and child abuse. “We’re working now with the police,” CPA Director, Ann Greene told the media on Thursday. “We want to find the first person who posted it because we have to find them and we have to be certain that it really happened in Guyana. The last time somebody sent me something and we tried looking, we found out that it wasn’t in Guyana, it was all the way in Africa. But, we heard [the video] and it sounded like if it was here, so we’re looking to find them because, if we find them, that child will be removed and they will be in the lock-ups because that’s serious violation of a child’s rights.”

She stated that for the past few days she has received countless calls from concerned
individuals who wished to bring the CPA’s attention to the video. Summing up her thoughts on the act, Greene said that she could not bear to watch the video at some points.
“Why did they have to put her through that? That’s assault of the highest level!” the CPA Director said, lamenting that it is often times those closest to children who hurt them.
She now calls on individuals with information on the persons seen in the video to contact the CPA and their information shared will remain anonymous.