A 26-year-old mother, originally from Bartica, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), is pleading with the public to help her locate her two sons, aged two and six, who went missing since May this year. It is suspected that the children might have been taken by their father without her consent.
Nadia Simmons told this publication that she travelled to Georgetown with her two sons in March to further her education at the Government Technical Institute (GTI).
She said it was her intention to pursue her studies so that she can give her children a better life.
Simmons said on May 31, she left her two sons in the care of their aunt, [their father’s sister] to attend classes but after classes ran late that evening, she informed the woman that she would not be able to pick the children up until the following day.
When she turned up at her sister-in-law’s home the following day, she did not see her kids and immediately started to ask questions. It was then, she was told that they were no longer at her home.
Prior to that, she explained that she had attempted to contact the children’s aunt but she did not take the calls. It was until after she used a friend’s phone to contact the woman that she answered.
“I left them between 6 and 7 in the evening… that is the only sister for him that I would communicate with… I don’t send them anywhere, but that is not the first time I ask her because I use to take care of her children too. When I go to her, she told me that the father took them,” she explained.
Simmons said after learning that her children were with her reputed husband, she attempted to contact him, to no avail.
She continued to search for her children but could not locate them. As such, she reported the matter to the La Grange Police Station and in the presence of the Police, the children’s aunt promised to return them to her but this never materialised.
“I went to the station and they made contact with her and she said she was going to collect them and bring them. After 12 that day, I am still there and can’t reach with the children… when you call her back, she said she is not getting onto her brother or his new girl,” the woman cried.
The young mother further alleged that after feeling that all hopes were lost, she took to social media where she expressed her frustration of not being able to find her children. She said instead of getting assistance, she was arrested and charged with cyberbullying.
“I made a Facebook post in June where I was charged the following Monday… I got a call from the senior officer and he said Miss Simmons your children are here at the Vigilance Police Station and you can come and collect them. When I reach up there, I was charged,” she said.
The woman is pleading with the higher authorities to assist her in locating her children.
When contacted, Commander of Region Three Errol Watts noted that the children are not missing but in their father’s custody.
The Commander said just like the mother, the father has 50% right of the children’s custody.
“The father of these kids has a right equally as the mother with the custody of his kids; and Child Care and Protection Agency has intervened in the matter and we are jointly working together with them to get to the father and for them to sit down and work out an amicable solution outside of the court. If it can’t work outside of the court, then they will have to go to the civil court for custody,” the Commander related.
