The Divisional Commander of Corentyne, Berbice along with the Child Care and Protection Agency (CC&PA) are currently investigating the circumstances behind the impregnation of a 13-year-old girl and another reported case where a girl, also 13, was recently married to an older man.
Doctors have confirmed that one of the two 13-year-old girls is pregnant.
This publication understands that one of the girls was allegedly wed to an older man over the weekend last.
This publication understands that the impregnated teen was living home with an older man for a lengthy period.
Divisional Commander, Assistant Commissioner Clifton Hicken have since assured that the matters are being thoroughly investigated.
The CC&PA also expressed the same sentiment.
The parents of one of the girls, this online publication was told, have been assisting the Police with their investigations which led to the arrest of one man.
Meanwhile, residents on the Corentyne had gone to the Office of the Prime Minister after they had reported one of the matters to the relevant agencies and had not been getting a response.
Regional Representative to the Prime Minister, Gobin Harbhajan, explained that he too had tried to get the relevant agencies involved.
“The residents of the community kept calling and complaining, they had some priests and pastors also called about underage girls who would have run away a few weeks ago and then the parents were making arrangements to marry the girls. I passed on that information to the Number 51 Police Station Sergeant and also at the Police Outpost at Number 62 Village, but the complaints continued to come in.”
The age of consent in Guyana is 16. It was raised from 13 to 16 on October 31, 2005.
Harbhajan added that he is surprised at the way one Police Officer acted when the information was given to him.
