A mother is seeking more meaningful assistance from the Police after her 15-year-old daughter went missing and is believed to have run away with her ‘uncle’.
The Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA) was told months ago that the teen was having an inappropriate relationship with a taxi driver.
The 29-year-old mother of two told this publication that the teenager ran away from their Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice home on Sunday afternoon.
Within hours of the incident, a report was made to the Fort Wellington Police Station and by the next day, the mother learnt that the child was at an aunt in the same village and the Police were informed.
“When I take the Police and go, she done gone away and the auntie did not say anything and the Police did not carry the auntie dem to the Station and question them and ask them anything at all,” the mother said.
According to the woman, the taxi driver’s car is currently parked outside his parents’ house. She said the young man was well known to her. In fact, she referred to him as ‘uncle’.
“I was in Barbados with my husband working and my daughter use to stay with my mother while I was in Barbados and my sister use to send this guy at my mother house to go and help she do work, so come the relationship going on.”
The woman said that after her mother’s death, she found out about the relationship between her daughter and the taxi driver and contacted the CCPA.
According to her, the teenager had posted a video with herself and the taxi driver, who also had a relationship with her (teen’s) 37-year-old aunt.
This is not the first report being made of the child running with the ‘uncle’. The first incident allegedly occurred in February when the child was 14 years old.
“The first time I catch her, I carry her to the Welfare (Department) and the Welfare say that she got to go back to school and I tell the Welfare that she living with a stepfather and the stepfather and I decide that we don’t want she back in we home. So, let she go to the ‘Girl School’ or let the Welfare carry she somewhere else.”
According to the woman, her daughter was placed in the custody of an aunt, but the young man was still in contact with the teenager.
As a result, when the teenager fell ill and requested to be with her mother, she took her to the Welfare Department.
“The Welfare tell me to give she a second chance and I say okay I will do that. Now when I carry she home she start again,” her mother said.
The woman believes that the Police could play a more active role in the case.
