By Fareeza Haniff
[www.inewsguyana.com] – It has been approximately a month since a 15 – year – old girl has been pushed around between the Whim Police Station and the New Opportunity Corps in Dennis Street, Sophia, Greater Georgetown.
The situation has taken a turn for the worst and her mother, Bridgette Moore, staged a protest action outside the Court of Appeal in Georgetown on Wednesday, August 12, pleading for her daughter to be released.
On July 20, iNews had reported that the family of the teenager wanted the relevant authorities to look into their situation with some urgency after the teenager was locked up at the Whim Police Station, Corentyne Berbice for quite some time.
The young lady was placed in custody as a result of a physical altercation she had with another girl. According to reports, the teenager of Rose Hall Town, was attempting to defend her pregnant sister, who came under attack, when the altercation took place.
She was later charged and placed before the Albion Magistrate’s court, where she was remanded to the New Opportunity Corps in Georgetown. She want transported to the facility after more than two weeks of having to sleep in a cell with other prisoners.
On Monday, August 10, the teenager was taken back to the Albion Magistrate’s Court, where Magistrate Marissa Mittelholzer ordered that she be placed at an Orphanage in Georgetown since her mother only has a one bedroom house.
The mother, during her protest, told reporters that her daughter was not transported to Georgetown the same day and had to sleep in a cell filled with water at the Whim Police Station.
On Tuesday, she was brought to Georgetown but for reasons unknown at this time, the orphanage refused to accept the teenager. According to the mother, the young lady is experiencing her menstrual cycle and was forced to endure an entire day with the police officers who took her with them to conduct their daily business in the city.
The distraught mother told iNews that her daughter was not given food or even allowed to take a bath; she was taken back to the Whim Police Station where she was forced again to spend the night.
At the moment, she is still at the police station with no definitive answer as to what will happen next. The mother of nine children wants her daughter to be released into her custody.
“The Magistrate…the Welfare [Officer] behaving as if she ain’t got children…everybody talking about she, how she does deh behaving with people child. Me ain’t understand this thing… I want justice, something must happen. I want me child because me child does go to school. That child is me child. Something got to be done,” the upset mother told reporters.
The mother remains reluctant to give her daughter to the State and is instead begging for government’s intervention to get her child out of jail.
They released a bunch of criminals and an underage girl is in jail indefinitely for a simple altercation? I think the police is keeping her there for their own purposes, this child should be checked at a hospital for sexual assaults
Very sad I feel this mother’s pain.!!
GET THIS CHILD OUT OF POLICE CUSTODY NOW, NOW NOW. I AM OUTRAGED!
Agreed but what other option does this mother have? Are those responsible have no sense of decency? Are they going to wait until she gets raped or becomes pregnant while in police custody? This has happened before and is likely to happen again. Can’t trust the police
Are we speaking about China or N Korean here. Would any of these functionaries from the magistrate to the police want their young child to be treated in this manner. This is an outrage. The mother should appeal to the Ministry of Home Affairs for assistance. This woman and her child need help immediately.