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Offline Flex

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Baby mauled to death by Rottweiler
« Reply #660 on: March 09, 2016, 02:47:05 AM »
Baby mauled to death
By Ryan Hamilton-Davis (Newsday)


A CENTRAL Trinidad family is today mourning the death of their loved one, a six-month old baby boy who yesterday was savagely attacked and mauled to death by the family’s pet Rottweiler.

Doctors who attended to little Malik Khan told police the baby had no chance of survival and was brought to the Chaguanas Accident and Emergency unresponsive.

He was pronounced dead minutes later. The baby’s tiny face was covered in deep puncture marks caused by the dog’s canines.

“He was chewed up pretty badly.

The poor child had no chance at survival...that is what the doctors told us,” said a police source who spoke with Newsday last night.

An autopsy will be done today to officially ascertain cause of death.

Police sources said baby Malik suffered massive blood loss from the many bites he suffered.

Police sources told Newsday that the dog was still at the house last night and there was no word on it it would be euthanized by its owners.

According to police reports, baby Malik was with his mother at their home off Jameel Street in Charlieville. At about 3.30 pm, while his mother was cleaning the yard, baby Malik crawled out of the house and began playing with the Rottweiler, which was the family pet for several years.

Without warning, the dog pounced on the baby clamping its jaws over the child’s face as he started to scream and violently shook its head, working its teeth deeper and deeper into the baby’s flesh.

Vishna Bissoon, Malik’s 23-yearold mother looked on in horror as the dog tossed the child like a rag doll. The mother’s screams alerted neighbours but by the time help arrived, baby Malik had already suffered major bites over his face and neck. An EHS ambulance was called which arrived in minutes and medics rushed the unresponsive child to the Chaguanas Accident and Emergency Department where minutes later he was pronounced dead.

According to the Dangerous Dog Act, the Rottweiler breed is not classified as dangerous or Class A.

The Act categorises dogs into two classes. Six breeds are specified as dangerous or class A dogs: the American Pit Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Terrier, the American Bully, the Dogo Argentino, the Japanese Tosa and the Fila Brasileiro. All other dogs - including the Rottweiler - are classified a s Class B.

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline weary1969

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Re: Baby mauled to death by Rottweiler
« Reply #661 on: March 09, 2016, 11:21:08 AM »
This is the equivalent of shooting in the US. When will it end?
Today you're the dog, tomorrow you're the hydrant - so be good to others - it comes back!"

Offline Sando prince

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Re: Baby mauled to death by Rottweiler
« Reply #662 on: March 10, 2016, 04:18:56 PM »
.
Watch this video on this very unfortunate tragedy.. Read the comments too..

https://www.facebook.com/tntcrimewatch/videos/10156879078990144/
.


Offline Sando prince

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Re: Baby mauled to death by Rottweiler
« Reply #663 on: March 10, 2016, 04:19:57 PM »
.
Watch this video on this very unfortunate tragedy.. Read the comments too..

https://www.facebook.com/tntcrimewatch/videos/10156879078990144/
.




Something has to be done about people who cannot take care of their dangerous dogs because the results can be very fatal smh.
.

« Last Edit: March 10, 2016, 09:19:38 PM by Sando prince »

Offline Sando prince

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Re: Baby mauled to death by Rottweiler
« Reply #664 on: March 24, 2016, 06:51:57 PM »
Update : Simba has been put to death.

Simba, the dog that killed a 6-month-old, will be put to death.


Simba, the mix breed dog reported to have been responsible for the recent death of a child, will be put to sleep.
The dog was brought into the T&TSPCA shelter by the Chaguanas Corporation on March 10th.

Simba was examined by the shelter veterinarian and by a qualified behaviourist and a trainer.
At the time, Simba was found to be “head-shy, showing fear, aggression, wary of human contact, cowering and tensing his body when touched and his behaviour is that of a very poorly socialized dog."

On March 21st, Simba started to display signs of aggression towards the veterinarian and to members of staff who had previously worked with and interacted with him.

His aggression escalated without any indication or provocation, and it was felt that he now posed a threat to the safety of his handlers.
A collective decision was taken to euthanise Simba.
.
« Last Edit: March 24, 2016, 10:19:21 PM by Sando prince »

Offline Jumbie

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Left in trash as a newborn, man reunites with trio who saved him.
« Reply #665 on: December 26, 2016, 06:14:45 PM »
Left in trash as a newborn, man reunites with trio who saved him.

Marcus Wallace was 20 when he first saw his birth certificate. It named a woman he never met as “mother.” Curious, he stepped into the New York Public Library to look for clues — and got the shock of his life.


Marrcus Wallace’s first and only view of his mother was in this Bergen Record clipping.
A library worker found a 1985 newspaper story on Dorothea Ballas, a 21-year-old student at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ. Ballas had given birth in her dorm room, put the newborn in a trash bag, knotted the top and dropped it in a dumpster behind a gas station, leaving the boy to suffocate or freeze in 20-degree temperatures.

“I broke down. I got on the subway and cried all the way from 42nd Street to Flatbush Avenue,” said Wallace, now 31 and ­living in Brooklyn.

“I had a lot of whys. What was wrong with me? Why me?”

The discovery spurred years of roller-coaster emotions. After two debilitating strokes in one year, he struggled to regain his health and his self-esteem.

“My mother threw me in a dumpster. It took me a very long time to deal with that, but I’ve gotten past it,” Wallace said.

Still, he never stopped searching for ­answers.

Wallace’s journey led him to find this reporter, formerly with The ­Record of Hackensack newspaper, who covered the baby’s abandonment and miraculous survival.

“Nobody told me anything until I found your story,” he said.

The Post arranged a reunion, three ­decades later, between Wallace and the three people who rescued him.

On a December day just as frigid as Wallace’s birthday on Jan. 19, 1985, they gathered on a now-empty lot next to FDU dorms where the dumpster stood, exchanging bear hugs and weeping with joy.

“You’re my hero,” Wallace told Michael Randelman, a musician and painting contractor who came from Florida for the occasion.

On that morning in 1985, Randelman, then 25, was driving home from a girlfriend’s house at about 3 a.m. He stopped to inflate his tires at a gas station near his Hackensack home, but the air pump was broken.

So he headed a few miles to a Teaneck Shell station. The restroom was “filthy,” so he went behind the dumpster to urinate.

“I heard a crying noise. I kept hearing it,” Randelman said. “I lifted the lid, but all I saw was garbage.”

He called over station attendant Lo Kuo-Raya. They agreed a baby was inside, but they couldn’t see it. Randelman used a pay phone to call the Teaneck police.

Officers Phillip Lavigne and Sheridan Ogden pulled up a minute later. “We figured it was a cat,” Ogden recalled.

Lavigne climbed in, careful not to step on a black bag that differed from the other trash. He ripped it open and found the ­naked newborn, along with the umbilical cord and placenta.

“I was in a state of disbelief — to have someone just discard a living being like that,” said Lavigne, whose wife was pregnant at the time with their first child.

Lavigne held the baby close to his chest, while Ogden raced at 80 mph with lights and sirens toward Holy Name Hospital.


“I think I had wings on the car,” Ogden said.

Doctors whisked the infant inside. “You got here just in time,” one told the cops.

The baby, dubbed “Johnny Doe,” would have died of exposure had he not been found quickly, they said.

During their meeting, Lavigne presented Wallace with a Teaneck police cap and his shield — No. 187 — as mementos.

For Lavigne, the gift was knowing he made a difference.

“It’s the best Christmas gift you could ever give a cop,” Lavigne sobbed.

Randelman, who has no kids, is thrilled he helped give Wallace life. They plan to meet again so Randelman can teach him to play the drums.


“I love you, Marcus,” Randelman told him. “You are special, and you were meant to be here. Don’t let that incident tell you otherwise.”

As the reporter kept digging and the two ex-cops searched their memories, Wallace learned more of his origins.

Investigators had quickly identified his mother as Ballas because her name was on papers and other debris in the trash bag.

The bag also had a handwritten note or poem in Greek, with words to the effect: “I love you. I don’t want to do this,” the cops recalled. A Greek woman who translated the note for police at the time described it last week as “enigmatic” and “confused.”

Wallace never knew about the note.

“I’ve never seen my mother,” he said. One yellowed news clipping gave a first glimpse — a photo taken in court of a beautiful brunette in a high-necked white blouse. Wallace bears a striking resemblance to her.

At the time, Ballas told police she hid her pregnancy from family, friends and her former boyfriend, the baby’s father. Alone when she went into labor, she delivered the baby herself. She then discarded the boy in “sheer panic,” authorities said.

Ballas and the father, Ruthven Prithwie, then a 22-year-old student from Trinidad, had recently split up, he told the reporter in an interview two months after the birth. He had asked if Ballas was pregnant, but she said, “I’m just gaining weight.”


He believed Ballas feared the disapproval of her strict Greek Orthodox parents.

“I am the bad guy,” Prithwie said. “Number one, I am foreign. Number two, I am black.”

But he felt no ill will. “I don’t hold it against her for doing what she did,” he said. “Somehow or other, I understand.”

Ballas pleaded guilty to attempted murder. “I gave birth to a child. I placed the child in a bag,” she told the court in a near-whisper. She said the baby lay in the bin about 90 minutes before he was found. She was sentenced to probation and did no jail time.

While Ballas’ parents wanted to put the baby up for adoption, Prithwie fought to keep him. “I want to make a good home for my son,” he said, naming him Marcus. ­Finally, the child was placed in his custody and sent to live with Prithwie’s family in Trinidad while he finished his studies.

His father vowed to keep his abandonment a secret. “I don’t want my son to know,” he said in the 1985 interview. “If he ever does find out, I guess I’ll have to ­explain it to him, but I don’t know how.”

Wallace grew up in Trinidad with his father’s sister and a grandma. “I called her Mommy,” he said of his aunt. “I still love her as a mother. She took care of me as if I were her own.”

‘I honestly believe she doesn’t want anything to do with me … She doesn’t want any part of her past.’
The sister’s own son was “my brother,” he said. Wallace’s dad visited him in Trinidad several times a year.

At age 7 or so, the family began referring to the woman who raised him as his aunt. He was confused but too young to understand. “I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t know what it was.”

Wallace returned to the United States at age 16 to live with his dad, who owns a concierge service, and his dad’s wife, another FDU classmate, in Uniondale, LI. He calls her Mom. He has two younger sisters.

Like his dad, who attended FDU on a track scholarship, Wallace excelled on the Uniondale High School track team.

But despite a life full of love and laughter, he said, “I always felt a void.”

After Wallace graduated from high school, he began seeking the truth about his roots and found the headline that jolted his soul.

Over the years, Wallace has tried to reach Ballas, now 53. He phoned a florist business run by her parents and asked politely, “Please tell her that Marcus called.”

The next time he tried, he was told, “Don’t call back.”


He also messaged Ballas’ two brothers on Facebook. They never replied. Ballas’ parents have since died. Wallace has learned only that Ballas married a fellow Greek, had two other kids and moved to Rhode Island.

The Post reached Ballas on her cellphone and started to explain.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she blurted, and hung up. She did not respond to a letter.

“I honestly believe she doesn’t want anything to do with me,” Wallace said. “She doesn’t want any part of her past.”

After attending Kingsborough Community College, Wallace left to follow a girlfriend to Atlanta. They married. He landed jobs managing a Walmart and a Roadrunner trucking company

He was in the delivery room at the birth of his daughter, Addison, now age 3.

“I watched her come out,” he said. At that moment, he couldn’t help wondering what Ballas went through at his own birth. But after reading the news articles, Wallace feels less resentment than concern.

“She’s still my mother. She carried me full term,” he said. “I have nothing but love for the woman. I’m very grateful that I’m able to be a loving father to my own little girl. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to be alive.”

Wallace said he still hopes to meet his birth mom someday. He is determined to deliver one message: “I forgive you.”

Source: http://nypost.com/2016/12/25/left-in-trash-as-a-newborn-man-reunites-with-trio-that-saved-him/

Offline Deeks

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Re: Left in trash as a newborn, man reunites with trio who saved him.
« Reply #666 on: December 26, 2016, 10:04:33 PM »
Wow, what a Christmas story. Could luck with you life. God Bless!

Offline soccerman

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Re: Left in trash as a newborn, man reunites with trio who saved him.
« Reply #667 on: December 29, 2016, 11:57:44 PM »
Touching! Goodluck Marcus, I hope it works out.

Offline weary1969

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Re: Left in trash as a newborn, man reunites with trio who saved him.
« Reply #668 on: January 01, 2017, 11:53:12 AM »
We Trinis everywhere.
Today you're the dog, tomorrow you're the hydrant - so be good to others - it comes back!"

Offline 100% Barataria

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Re: Left in trash as a newborn, man reunites with trio who saved him.
« Reply #669 on: January 03, 2017, 06:23:18 PM »
Respek Marcus, go conquer the world...
Education is our passport for the future for the future belongs to those who prepare for it today

Offline asylumseeker

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Documentary: Tell the Children the Truth
« Reply #670 on: March 22, 2017, 08:39:55 AM »
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/sljue7mtgqw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/sljue7mtgqw</a>

Offline maxg

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Re: Documentary: Tell the Children the Truth
« Reply #671 on: March 24, 2017, 01:12:31 PM »
thanks seeker

Offline asylumseeker

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Re: Documentary: Tell the Children the Truth
« Reply #672 on: March 24, 2017, 03:43:26 PM »
The content depicts some themes in common with a couple other threads on the forum. Will merge them when time permits, then we could all digest and confront the fullness of the beast. :beermug:

Offline Flex

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Re: Child Abuse Thread
« Reply #673 on: January 29, 2020, 11:32:54 AM »
Eight people charged for Sexual Offences in CPU, SORT Operation.
T&T Guardian Reports.


The Child Pro­tec­tion Unit (CPU) is strong­ly urg­ing cit­i­zens with in­for­ma­tion on child abuse to re­port it to the near­est po­lice sta­tion, or to the CPU, to en­sure that an in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to such cas­es are launched im­me­di­ate­ly.

The re­newed ap­peal comes as sev­en men and one woman were nabbed in an in­tel­li­gence-led ex­er­cise over the week­end, by of­fi­cers of the Child Pro­tec­tion Unit (CPU), the Spe­cial Op­er­a­tions Re­sponse Team (SORT) and the To­ba­go Task Force.

Po­lice say these ar­rests now bring to 28, the to­tal num­ber of per­sons charged for breach of the Chil­dren’s Act, for the year, thus far.

The ac­cused ap­peared be­fore Mag­is­trates in Cen­tral Trinidad, San­gre Grande and Scar­bor­ough, To­ba­go, on Mon­day 27th Jan­u­ary, 2020.

The of­fences range from sex­u­al pen­e­tra­tion of a child to sex­u­al touch­ing of a child and hav­ing knowl­edge of sex­u­al pen­e­tra­tion of a child and fail­ing to re­port it.

These of­fences are all con­trary to the Chil­dren’s Act 46:01.

Ac­cord­ing to of­fi­cial po­lice re­ports, dur­ing 25th to 26th Jan­u­ary 2020, an is­land-wide ex­er­cise re­sult­ed in the ar­rest of the sus­pects from the Cen­tral, East­ern and To­ba­go Po­lice Di­vi­sions.

The ex­er­cise was spear­head­ed by W/Su­per­in­ten­dent (Ag) George, and As­sis­tant Su­per­in­ten­dent of Po­lice (Ag) Sookdeo; and su­per­vised by In­spec­tors (Ag.) Boodoo and Bap­tiste, W/Sgt. Mor­ton of the CPU, with the as­sis­tance of SORT, To­ba­go Task­force.

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline Flex

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Re: Child Abuse Thread
« Reply #674 on: February 07, 2020, 01:38:56 PM »
Two men charged with sexual offences against children
T&T Guardian Reports.


Two men were charged by of­fi­cers of the Child Pro­tec­tion Unit (CPU) for three counts of sex­u­al pen­e­tra­tion of a child and four counts of sex­u­al touch­ing of a child fol­low­ing in­tel­li­gence-led ex­er­cis­es, yes­ter­day.

The ex­er­cis­es were spear­head­ed by W/Supt. (Ag.) George and ASP Now­butt, and su­per­vised by In­sps. (Ag.) An­drews and Fran­cis along with Sgt. James and WPC John­son.

In the first in­ci­dent, of­fi­cers of the Port-of-Spain CPU, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with of­fi­cers of the In­ter-Agency Task Force (IATF), pro­ceed­ed to Nel­son Street, Port-of-Spain, on Thurs­day 6th Feb­ru­ary 2020. Once there, they ar­rest­ed a male sus­pect. He was charged by Cpl Nep­tune of the Port-of-Spain CPU with two counts of sex­u­al pen­e­tra­tion and three counts of sex­u­al touch­ing of a child dur­ing the pe­ri­od 2016 to 2020.

The 49-year-old male rel­a­tive of the vic­tim was tak­en in­to cus­tody and is ex­pect­ed to face a Port-of-Spain Mag­is­trate to­day, Fri­day 7th Feb­ru­ary, 2020.

In the sec­ond in­ci­dent, of­fi­cers of the West­ern CPU re­spond­ed to a re­port of sex­u­al as­sault against a child on Mon­day 3rd Feb­ru­ary 2020.

Ac­cord­ing to of­fi­cial po­lice re­ports, of­fi­cers pro­ceed­ed to La Puer­ta Av­enue, Diego Mar­tin, where they ar­rest­ed a male sus­pect for one count of sex­u­al pen­e­tra­tion of a child and one count sex­u­al touch­ing of a child.

The 58-year-old man was charged with the of­fences by WPC Kerr of West­ern CPU.

He ap­peared be­fore Port-of-Spain Mag­is­trate Maris­sa Gomez on Thurs­day 6th Feb­ru­ary 2020, and was grant­ed bail in the sum of $100,000.

The mat­ter was ad­journed to March 5th 2020.

The CPU is urg­ing par­ents and guardians to be vig­i­lant con­cern­ing their chil­dren’s over­all well­be­ing and safe­ty. Cit­i­zens with in­for­ma­tion on child abuse are strong­ly en­cour­aged to re­port it to the near­est po­lice sta­tion, or con­tact the po­lice at 999, 555, or re­port anony­mous­ly through the TTPS Mo­bile App.

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline Flex

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Re: Child Abuse Thread
« Reply #675 on: February 10, 2020, 07:16:11 AM »
Girl, 8, beaten to death after wetting bed, father takes own life
BY RYAN HAMILTON-DAVIS (NEWSDAY).


A Kelly Village man ended his life moments after he killed his eight-year-old autistic daughter by beating her with a cutlass.

Information reaching Newsday at this time is that father of two, Michael Maynard, beat the girl for wetting the bed.

Police were told by the girl’s ten-year-old brother that the child would usually wet the bed and, after making several checks over the course of Saturday night, Maynard woke up to find his pants wet.

The man sent the girl to bathe, then beat her with a cutlass. The child was later found dead.

Police were told the man dressed the child’s body, combed her hair and put her on a bed. He then told his son he could not live with what he had done, and even if he went to jail he could not live without his daughter. Maynard locked the boy in the house and told him he would return.

At about 6 pm on Sunday, the boy woke up and realised his father was nowhere to be found. He jumped out the window and told neighbours who searched for Maynard and found him dead near the house.

This is the second murder/suicide to have happened within a matter of weeks. In January, Roger Singh killed his wife Naiee Singh, then himself.

The murder toll for the year now stands at 59.

RELATED NEWS

Girl, 8, beaten to death with cutlass
By Rhon­dor Dowlat-Ros­tant


Eight-year-old Makeisha May­nard’s life end­ed when she was planassed to death by her fa­ther for a bed­wet­ting in­ci­dent. Her fa­ther, Michael May­nard, was lat­er found hang­ing at their Ca­roni home.

Po­lice said they were told by the girl’s ten-year-old broth­er that Makeisha reg­u­lar­ly wet the bed and on Sat­ur­day night when May­nard woke up to find his pants soaked in urine, he sent the girl to bathe be­fore beat­ing her with a cut­lass. When he re­alised that she was not re­spon­sive, he dressed her, combed her hair and placed her on a bed.

The boy told po­lice his fa­ther was cry­ing and kept say­ing he could not live with him­self for what he did to Makeisha. He then locked him in the house and left promis­ing to re­turn but nev­er did. At about 6 pm on Sun­day, when the boy re­alised his fa­ther had not re­turned, he jumped out of a win­dow and alert­ed neigh­bours.

May­nard was found hang­ing from a tree near his small gal­va­nized shack at Boysie Trace, Kel­ly Vil­lage.

The house was de­stroyed by fire yes­ter­day evening. Po­lice sus­pect ar­son as the rea­son.

Makeisha’s moth­er, Mayso­nia Thomas, said she ran from a life of abuse with May­nard. She claimed that when Makeisha was just six days old, the in­fant was hit on the head dur­ing an in­ci­dent where she was be­ing beat­en by May­nard. She said, as a re­sult, the girl suf­fered de­vel­op­men­tal de­lays.

“I left him when my daugh­ter Makeisha was three months old and my son was three years old,” Thomas said.

She said Makeisha could iden­ti­fy num­bers, colours and shapes but “her brain not con­nect­ing to the hands for her to write.” She said Makeisha and her broth­er lived with their step­fa­ther un­til last year Feb­ru­ary when May­nard took them away.

She claimed she had called their grand­moth­er who told her that she had them.

“I de­cid­ed to leave them there with her be­cause I know she took good care of them be­cause Michael used to abuse them too. I didn’t know that he took them out of school and had them out for al­most a year.

“I guess his fam­i­ly nev­er went for them be­cause he was al­so abu­sive and ag­gres­sive to­wards them too and every­one was afraid of him. It’s on­ly Sun­day night I got the call that Michael beat she for wet­ting the bed,” she said.

Thomas said she was stabbed five years ago and lodged sev­er­al re­ports against May­nard at po­lice sta­tions, in­clud­ing Mor­vant, Ca­roni and CID, but he was nev­er ar­rest­ed.

May­nard’s neigh­bours, who did not want to be iden­ti­fied, de­scribed him as a mon­ster and in re­cent days he had been more ag­gres­sive than usu­al and seemed “very frus­trat­ed.”

Makeisha’s broth­er is cur­rent­ly in the care of the Chil­dren’s Au­thor­i­ty and Thomas said she will try her best to re­gain cus­tody of her son.

Fam­i­ly of­fered coun­selling

Min­is­ter of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices Camille Robin­son-Reg­is yes­ter­day ap­pealed to cit­i­zens who find them­selves un­able to cope with life sit­u­a­tions to seek help. As she ex­tend­ed con­do­lences to the May­nard fam­i­ly, she re­vealed that Na­tion­al Fam­i­ly Ser­vices would be con­tact­ing the fam­i­ly to pro­vide coun­selling sup­port.

“Such sup­port con­tin­ues to be made free of charge to in­di­vid­u­als and house­holds. Oth­er ser­vices which pro­vide coun­selling and psy­choso­cial sup­port in­clude the min­istry’s an­nu­al cy­cles of com­mu­ni­ty-based par­ent­ing work­shops that are held across var­i­ous dis­tricts and which are tai­lored to equip par­tic­i­pants with the nec­es­sary knowl­edge, skills and at­ti­tudes to treat with is­sues in­clud­ing ado­les­cence, bul­ly­ing, trends in tech­nol­o­gy, teenage preg­nan­cy and so on,” Robin­son-Reg­is said.

Al­so, com­mu­ni­ty out­reach car­a­vans are be­ing held through­out the coun­try, with the next one sched­uled for Pin­to Road, Ari­ma, on Wednes­day.

Robin­son-Reg­is ap­pealed to men, in par­tic­u­lar, to seek out the help they need in rais­ing their chil­dren.

“Is­sues aris­ing out of the fail­ure to man­age anger and in­ti­mate part­ner vi­o­lence are be­com­ing in­creas­ing­ly preva­lent, and more men are be­ing iden­ti­fied as per­pe­tra­tors,” she said.

The min­is­ter em­pha­sised that in­di­vid­u­als need to take re­spon­si­bil­i­ty and avail them­selves of the ser­vices they need.

Mother of murdered child says father was abusive, violent
By Akash Samaroo (Guardian).


Mayso­nia Thomas, the moth­er of 8-year-old Makeisha May­nard who was al­leged­ly killed by her fa­ther, Michael May­nard this morn­ing be­fore he took his own life, said May­nard was an abuser and threat­ened her life on sev­er­al oc­ca­sions.

Speak­ing to re­porters out­side of the Foren­sics Sci­ences Cen­tre in St James, Thomas said Makeisha was not autis­tic as was pre­vi­ous­ly re­port­ed but rather had a learn­ing dis­abil­i­ty brought on af­ter she was abused by Michael May­nard when she was less than one week old.

“Makeisha is not an autis­tic child, she’s a slow child in the sense that when she was 6 days old while he was beat­ing me, he slapped Makeisha in her face and that gave her brain dam­age so she can­not write.”

Thomas said she’s been hid­ing from Michael for over a year now and showed us scars she re­ceived from stab wounds she al­leged­ly re­ceived from May­nard.

Thomas said a year ago, Michael took the chil­dren from their step­fa­ther and kept them at the home of his moth­er, the chil­dren’s grand­moth­er. Thomas said she was in the process of build­ing her home and that’s why she al­lowed the chil­dren to stay in the cus­tody of the grand­moth­er. She al­so said she could not take back cus­tody of the chil­dren be­cause May­nard was very vi­o­lent and she was afraid.

“I know if I go for them he will come for me, he used to stay if he can’t have me no­body else will. That’s why I left them with the grand­moth­er, not the fa­ther, I did not know he took them.”

She said when any oth­er rel­a­tive at­tempts to take the chil­dren from him he gets very ag­gres­sive.

“He fight­ing moth­er, he fight­ing sis­ter he fight­ing every­one.”

Mayso­nia Thomas said re­ports of his abuse were made to the Mor­vant and Ca­roni Po­lice Sta­tions but no ar­rests were made.


Michael Maynard -

« Last Edit: February 11, 2020, 06:01:07 AM by Flex »
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Re: Child Abuse Thread
« Reply #676 on: February 11, 2020, 03:32:58 PM »
IWRN calls for stringent measures to protect children
By RHON­DOR DOWLAT-ROS­TANT (Guardian).


The In­ter­na­tion­al Women's Re­sources Net­work (IWRN) is call­ing for agen­cies, fam­i­lies and par­ents to be more proac­tive, when it comes to pro­tect­ing chil­dren in this coun­try.

The de­mand comes in the wake of the death of 8-year old Makeisha May­nard who was beat­en to death by her fa­ther on Sun­day.

The IWRN has ex­pressed dis­ap­point­ment at all the in­di­vid­u­als—in­clud­ing fam­i­ly mem­bers and agen­cies—who it says failed the lit­tle girl.

Ac­cord­ing to the or­gan­i­sa­tion, for far too long, chil­dren have been used as col­lat­er­al dam­age in their par­ents’ es­tranged re­la­tion­ships, which has a neg­a­tive im­pact on the chil­dren’s well­be­ing.

In an of­fi­cial state­ment, IWRN pres­i­dent Adri­ana San­drine Rat­tan, said so­ci­ety con­tin­ues to op­er­ate in re­ac­tive mode when fa­tal­i­ty strikes.

"Con­tin­u­ing along that par­a­digm sug­gests there may be an ab­sence of a holis­tic na­tion­al plan to treat with psy­choso­cial is­sues, or if there is one, there is a need for greater lev­els of pub­lic aware­ness," Rat­tan said.

"More im­por­tant­ly, in or­der for those ser­vices to be dis­pensed ef­fec­tive­ly, prop­er mech­a­nisms must be put in place to en­sure that first re­spon­ders are suf­fi­cient­ly sen­si­tised on their roles, so as to avoid fur­ther ex­ac­er­bat­ing sit­u­a­tions that come be­fore them," she added.

Rat­tan said deal­ing with psy­choso­cial is­sues re­quires a proac­tive and sus­tained ap­proach, if the coun­try is se­ri­ous about nur­tur­ing and pro­tect­ing its chil­dren.

“As ob­tains at the IWRN,” she says, “a mon­i­tor­ing and eval­u­a­tion frame­work must be de­vel­oped that al­lows for track­ing the suc­cess and/or chal­lenges of vic­tims who are be­ing served."

The or­gan­i­sa­tion is plead­ing with the State to re­vis­it its ap­proach in prop­er­ly util­is­ing the ser­vices of So­cial Work­ers, whose role the IWRN says would be piv­otal in the area of proac­tive vis­its to rur­al com­mu­ni­ties in par­tic­u­lar. These of­fi­cials, the IWRN points out, would be able to iden­ti­fy the so­cial chal­lenges faced by those com­mu­ni­ties such as pover­ty, un­em­ploy­ment and child ne­glect/abuse. The group ar­gues that such proac­tiv­i­ty would al­low for more time­ly and ap­pro­pri­ate in­ter­ven­tions.

The IWRN says its rep­re­sen­ta­tives, along with oth­er civ­il so­ci­ety or­gan­i­sa­tions, would be meet­ing with the Child Pro­tec­tion Unit (CPU) soon, to fur­ther dis­cuss strin­gent mea­sures geared to­wards pro­tect­ing the na­tion’s chil­dren.

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Re: Child Abuse Thread
« Reply #677 on: February 13, 2020, 06:37:52 AM »
Autopsy finds Mukeisha was not beaten to death
By Jannelle Bernard (Guardian).


Tox­i­col­o­gy re­port or­dered to de­ter­mine cause

Ques­tions re­main as to how 8-year-old Mukeisha May­nard died.

It was orig­i­nal­ly thought that the child was beat­en to death with a cut­lass by her fa­ther.

How­ev­er, an au­top­sy done on the child’s body found that she was not killed by in­juries sus­tained from blunt force trau­ma.

Pathol­o­gists have or­dered that a tox­i­col­o­gy re­port be done to de­ter­mine whether the child in­gest­ed any dan­ger­ous sub­stance.

Un­til a de­ter­mi­na­tion is made, the cause of death re­mains “in­con­clu­sive” but po­lice in­ves­ti­ga­tors have clas­si­fied it as an “un­nat­ur­al death”.

The body has been re­leased to her moth­er Mayso­nia for bur­ial.

Mukeisha’s grand­moth­er, San­dra May­nard, told Guardian Me­dia she did all she could to keep her grand­daugh­ter safe even though the child was nev­er left in her care.

The el­der­ly May­nard is al­so de­bunk­ing claims by the moth­er that she did not know that Mukeisha was in the care of her fa­ther. Ac­cord­ing to San­dra arrange­ments were made by the child’s moth­er Mayso­nia for them to be col­lect­ed by their fa­ther. She says he took the chil­dren from the home of an­oth­er male rel­a­tive of the chil­dren’s moth­er with her per­mis­sion.

While the woman in­sist­ed she does not con­done what her son did, she said she nev­er ex­pect­ed it to reach that point.

Ac­cord­ing to the el­der­ly May­nard, Michael loved his chil­dren and blames what hap­pened on a lack of par­ent­ing skills and an in­abil­i­ty to cope with de­vel­op­men­tal is­sues that Mukeisha dis­played.

Yes­ter­day the po­lice said they re­ceived at least three re­ports against May­nard. But his moth­er said ad­di­tion­al emer­gency calls were made to the au­thor­i­ties.

San­dra al­so be­lieves that the Chil­dren’s Au­thor­i­ty should have done more.

“If when he was liv­ing across by my moth­er and we call the po­lice and we call the peo­ple to come, Mukeisha would have been alive.”

She al­so said the rape case against her son was even­tu­al­ly dis­missed.

“He was liv­ing with the girl at the time when she said he raped her. He hand was in a cast, the po­lice lock him up, he al­ready went to court and Michael win the case.”

San­dra said she did all she could to pro­tect her grand­chil­dren. She says she even asked their moth­er to re­lin­quish cus­tody to her. “She was to file cus­tody for me to keep them chil­dren and she nev­er do it. She would have been sleep­ing by me.”

Mukeisha’s 10-year-old broth­er is now in the care of his grand­moth­er, San­dra. This she said proves that she can­not be blamed for what hap­pened to Mukeisha.

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Re: Child Abuse & Murder News Thread
« Reply #678 on: February 18, 2020, 05:54:03 PM »
Boy,11, dies after scolding for watching too many cartoons
BY STACY MOORE (NEWSDAY).


An 11-year-old boy is believed to have taken his own life after his mother scolded him for watching too many cartoons and sent him to bed. The incident occurred at the family's home in Couva on Monday night.

The standard four student, police told Newsday, became upset and went to his room. He was later found unconscious with a cord around his neck. He was rushed to the Couva District Health Facility where doctors pronounced him dead.

The child lived with his mother and 13-year-old brother. Four years ago, his 19-year-old brother was murdered and relatives said that ever since that incident, the child suffered from insomnia.

According to a police report the incident occurred at 10.30 pm at the family home. His mother walked into the room and saw her son watching cartoons on television at the time. Reports are that she buffed him, told him to turn off the television and go to bed.

The boy became upset and then went to his room. His elder brother made the discovery and called out to their mother. The mother of six in an interview on Tuesday, told Newsday that she is still in a deep state of shock. “I heard my son screaming ‘mammy, mammy come quick.' I did not expect to see my child dead. This hurts so much.”

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Re: Child Abuse & Murder News Thread
« Reply #679 on: February 22, 2020, 04:03:48 PM »
Girl, 11, gave birth to baby allegedly fathered by brother
Janelle Griffith
NBC News


An 11-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by her brother gave birth at home, and now he and their parents are facing criminal charges.

The girl gave birth to a boy in a bathtub in St. Charles, Missouri, according to a probable cause statement.

Her biological brother, who is 17, was charged last week with incest, statutory rape and statutory sodomy of a person younger than 12, while her parents were charged with child endangerment. Police say the girl's parents did not provide medical care to their daughter after she gave birth.

NBC News is not naming the girl's parents or brother because it would identify the victim.

Police started investigating on Feb. 11 after the girl's parents brought a baby boy to a hospital. The baby still had the umbilical cord and placenta attached and a body temperature of 90 degrees, according to a probable cause statement.

The girl's father initially claimed the baby was his and had been dropped off on their porch by an ex-girlfriend.

He later told investigators his daughter had given birth to the boy and that his son was the father, a probable cause statement states. The girl's parents claimed they were not aware she was pregnant or that she was allegedly being sexually assaulted by her brother, according to the statement.

During questioning, the brother told police he had sex with his sister about 100 times but did not know she was pregnant, according to a probable cause statement. He also said he did not know how long it had been going on for, the statement said.

All three suspects are being held by the St. Charles County Department of Corrections, a jail official told NBC News Friday. Bail was set at $10,000 for the woman, $100,000 cash only for the man and $300,000 cash only for the teen, according to court records.

No attorneys are listed for them in online court records.

The baby, who was born premature, remains hospitalized, and the girl is in the care of relatives, St. Charles police Lt. Tom Wilkison told NBC News.

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Re: Child Abuse & Murder News Thread
« Reply #680 on: March 03, 2020, 07:40:36 AM »
San Fernando man on child prostitution charges.
BY JADA LOUTOO (NEWSDAY).


A SAN FERNANDO man was granted $200,000 bail after he appeared before a San Fernando magistrate on Monday.

Obawole Biddeau, also known as Ovad, appeared before Magistrate Joanne Connor at San Fernando First Magistrate Court on five charges of causing a child to become a prostitute, controlling a child prostitute, receiving a financial benefit from trafficking in a child, transporting a child for prostitution and harboring a child for purpose of exploitation.

The victim is a 16-year-old Venezuelan and is now in protective custody.

Biddeau was charged by WPC Timothy of the Counter-Trafficking Unit.

Police arrested him at his home on Carnival Monday while executing a search warrant. He was later charged on the weekend after police received instructions from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Biddeau was represented by attorney Kelston Pope who argued for bail which was granted by Connor.

He was also ordered to surrender his passport and return to court on March 31.

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Re: Child Abuse & Murder News Thread
« Reply #681 on: March 04, 2020, 02:51:55 PM »
Rio Claro woman charged for sex abuse of teen stepson
BY JENSEN LA VENDE (NEWSDAY).


A 24-year-old housewife has been charged with having sexual intercourse with her 14-year-old stepson.

A team of police led by Supt Nicole George and including Sgt Rene Bain-Keller and PC Richard Mahabir investigated claims brought by the child’s mother. Mahabir charged the Rio Claro woman on Tuesday night following instructions from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Police said the incident took place in July last year at the woman’s house.

The boy’s mother found disturbing WhatsApp messages between the child and the woman and reported them to the police Child Protection Unit. The discovery of the inappropriate messages was made some time this year.

The stepmother is expected to appear before a Rio Claro magistrate on Wednesday.

She cannot be named as that would identify the child, which is illegal.

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Re: Child Abuse & Murder News Thread
« Reply #682 on: March 04, 2020, 02:52:36 PM »
Couple in court on 46 sex offences against girl
BY LAUREL V WILLIAMS (NEWSDAY).


A man and his wife appeared before a registrar at the Couva Magistrates Court on Monday charged with a total of 46 sexual offences against a girl.

The registrar denied bail and remanded the couple into police custody until Wednesday, when they are expected to face a magistrate.

PC Titus of the Central Division Child Protection Unit (CPU) charged the man, 44, with 23 counts of sexual penetration of a child.

He charged the wife, 43, with 16 counts of causing or encouraging the seduction, prostitution or sexual penetration of a child. The accused wife faced three counts of prevention of cruelty to children and four counts of failing to report the abuse of a minor.

Police said the alleged sexual abuse against the girl spanned over eight months.

W/ Supt George and ASP Nowbutt led investigations which were supervised by Insps Boodoo and Francis, all of CPU.

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Re: Child Abuse & Murder News Thread
« Reply #683 on: March 06, 2020, 07:13:55 AM »
No bail for man, wife for sex with daughter
BY AZARD ALI (NEWSDAY).


EXPRESSING concern over where a child is living, a magistrate on Thursday refused bail to a husband and wife who are on 44 sex charges involving the wife's daughter.

The couple, from Couva, reappeared before senior magistrate Christine Charles in the Couva magistrates court.

The girl's stepfather, 43, faces 23 charges of sexual penetration of a girl under 16. He first appeared on Monday when the charges laid under Section 18 of the Children Act, were read to him.

His 42-year-old common-law wife, who had also appeared with him, faces four charges of failing to report to the police that she exposed a child she was responsible for to mental and emotional injuries. Another four charges are for failing to report that her daughter was being sexually abused.

A further 13 charges were read to the woman that under Section 12 (1) of the Children Act, a child under her responsibility was being sexually penetrated by an adult and she failed to make a report.

PC Nathan Titus of the Child Protection Unit laid the charges.

The couple were remanded to reappear on Thursday to allow a tracing to be done on their past criminal record.

The couple sat next to each other in the dock on Thursday as Charles asked where the child was.

Attorney Andre Koolmalsingh said she was with her biological father.

He pleaded for bail on the ground that the mother and stepfather had no previous criminal convictions, except that the stepfather was previously charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.

Police prosecutor Sgt Vicki Ranjit-Singh, objected to bail being granted to the couple on the ground that the incidents of penetration were too numerous.

Charles agreed, saying, "What concerns the court is the number of incidents and where is the child staying. Bail is refused." She remanded both into custody and advised the couple to apply to a judge in chambers for bail.

The prosecutor disclosed notes of evidence to the attorney.

They are to reappear on March 31.

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Re: Child Abuse & Murder News Thread
« Reply #684 on: August 28, 2020, 03:33:38 AM »
Marabella dad believes girls abducted, body parts sold
STACY MOORE (NEWSDAY).


Yet another south schoolgirl has disappeared in less than a month and one father strongly believes that young girls are being abducted and their body parts sold.

He is urging parents to be extremely careful when they allow their girl children to leave the house.

Missing are students Azzariah Joseph, Chiquita Clinton, both 16, and Princess Phillips,18.

“T&T is a small place. Where are all these missing girls? Some of these missing girls for years and never to be found.” Anthony Phillips told Newsday in an interview.

He is the father of form five student Princess.

On August 7, Princess, 18, disappeared after leaving home at Dolly Street Marabella. Days before, she had told her parent she was being followed by a group of men in a car on her way home from school. On realising what was happening, she took a shortcut and reached home safely

"The photographs of these students have been posted on social media and in the newspapers, so how can you tell me that no one has seen them? No one wants to speak about it.

"But I am telling you many of these girls are being taken and killed, and their body parts sold to the highest bidder,” said Phillips.

He said people know this is happening but are afraid to speak out.

“I am not afraid to say it.

"You will only feel it when it has happened to you. You hear conversations and word gets around. But there is no proof. But let me tell you it is real.

"My daughter was taken from me and I don’t know where she is, or if she is even alive. She could have been a victim of this, as with many other girls.”

Phillips wanted to warn other parents. “We have to be careful in times like this, with not only the covid19 pandemic, but we must be more careful particularly about our girl children. They are the ones being targeted. Look at the statistics of those that are missing for years and you (have) never heard from or seen them. It is scary but this is the reality. Where are these missing girls?”

Joseph, of Gowers Well Road in Fyzabad, is the latest missing student.

Police said Joseph, 16, was last seen on Monday night in Fyzabad. When she did not return home, a missing person report was made to Fyzabad police.

Joseph is of mixed descent, five foot six inches tall, with long black curly hair. She was last seen wearing bluejeans and multi-coloured top.

Also on Tuesday night,Chiquita Clinton, 16, was reported missing by relatives.Clinton, like Phillips, is from Marabella.

She was last seen at her Union Park home. When she did not return home a report was made to the Marabella Police Station.

The Anti Kidnapping Unit is investigating all three cases.

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Re: Child Abuse & Murder News Thread
« Reply #685 on: October 27, 2020, 04:45:57 PM »
Man, 49, on 5 sex charges against daughter
LAUREL V WILLIAMS (NEWSDAY).


After learning about a police investigation against him involving sexual offences, a 49-year-old man drank a combination of a pesticide, power steering and brake fluids in an attempt to take his own life.

On Monday, the day after he was discharged from hospital, police charged him with five counts of sexual penetration of his 16-year-old daughter.

The man is expected to appear virtually before a Point Fortin magistrate on Tuesday, a release from police said.

The release said the girl reported that sher father had subjected her to years of sexual abuse. She told investigators he last assaulted her at around 7.30 am on October 19 at the family’s home.

WPC Myers, of the South-Western Division Child Protection Unit, took the lead in the case, during which she discovered that the father had allegedly been abusing the daughter since she was 11.

On learning of the police report on Saturday, the man reportedly drank malathion mixed with power steering and brake fluids.

He was taken to the Point Fortin Area Hospital, then transferred to the San Fernando General Hospital where he was treated and the hospital’s psychiatrist saw him.

On Sunday, after doctors discharged him, police took him into custody.

On Monday, WPC Myers formally charged him with the five offences.

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Re: Child Abuse & Murder News Thread
« Reply #686 on: October 30, 2020, 04:27:40 PM »
Jamaican held in El Dorado for sex with minor
SHANE SUPERVILLE (NEWSDAY).


A 23-year-old Jamaican man is in custody after he was found with a minor at his El Dorado apartment on Thursday morning.

Police said the mother of a 14-year-old girl reported to the Pinto Road police post that her 14-year-old daughter had left home with a man in a red car.

Police found the car outside an apartment at Boodoo Street, El Dorado.

They went to the apartment and spoke to the man, but he denied having the girl with him. However, they searched the apartment.

The man tried to run away but was caught.

Police found the girl hiding in a cupboard in the bedroom.

Both were taken to the Pinto Road police post, where she was interviewed and said she had been sexually penetrated.

The Northern Division Child Protection Unit is continuing enquiries.

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Re: Child Abuse & Murder News Thread
« Reply #687 on: December 01, 2020, 01:31:40 AM »
Sex predators targeting young girls
... CoP urges society to report heinous acts
By Peter Christopher (T&T Guardian).


In the past seven days, 11 cases of sexual assault against minors have been heard in the local courts.

Yesterday, five men appeared before courts in Port-of-Spain and San Fernando respectively to answer to various such charges.

In Port-of-Spain, the Magistrates’ Court heard a case where a 43-year-old Diego Martin man faced a series of sexual offences against two female minors, aged 11 and 13, who were his friend’s children.

Investigations revealed that the girls were spending time at their father’s house in Diego Martin when the incidents occurred. Investigators learnt that the girls’ father allowed the man, who was unemployed and separated from his wife, to stay at his home.

However, during investigations, WPC Joseph, of the T&t Police Service’s Child Protection Unit, found out that during this time in the home, he allegedly built a relationship with the two girls and waited at nights when their father left to have sexual intercourse with them. The girls later told their mother who alerted the CPU.

The man was charged with 13 counts of sexual penetration of a minor; four counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child; two counts of grooming a minor and one count of possession of child pornography by WPC Joseph, who is attached to the Western Division Child Protection Unit (CPU), on November 27.

In another case, a 59-year-old San Juan labourer appeared on a charge of sexual touching of a 13-year-old girl.

The court heard that the man was doing a job at the home of the girl’s grandmother when he kissed her on neck and breast when no one was around.

In the final case of the day, a 25-year-old PH driver from Barataria appeared charged with sexual touching of a minor.

The suspect was arrested and charged on November 28 by PC Castle of the North-Eastern Division Child Protection Unit (CPU).

The charge arose out of an incident involving the girl, who was travelling in a vehicle with the suspect. The victim reported to police that the man drove her to a dead-end near Queen Avenue, Barataria, where he allegedly lifted her dress, pulled out his private part and rubbed it against her leg.

In San Fernando, investigators probing allegations of the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl also discovered that the accused man sexually assaulted his five-year-old daughter.

The 25-year-old Gasparillo man was charged with three counts sexual penetration of the 15-year-old, after he allegedly took the teenager to the home of a relative in April and raped her. He was also charged with one count of sexual touching of a minor by PC Rohan.

Contacted on the increase in sexual assault cases against minors in the past two weeks yesterday, Police Commissioner Gary Griffith said he has a game-changer coming soon.

“This is the reason why we formed the Gender-based Violence Unit and we have seen the importance of this unit that has greatly helped persons who have been affected by crime in that regard,” Griffith said.

“Likewise, we have revamped the Child Protection Unit and very soon we will be launching the Sexual Offense Unit, which will be a critical element of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service.

“We are fully aware of these concerns, very soon there will be something that I will be launching that is going to be a game-changer to deal with sexual offences to children.”

He said the recent cases showed that Trinidad and Tobago was becoming a society which was more likely to uphold lawlessness.

“I think the main reason is because this is becoming a very sick society where certain elements, especially people that you will see on social media, they try to condone wrongdoing. They try to spend more time attacking and discrediting those who are here to protect victims from perpetrators and they try to defend those people who are in criminal activity,” Griffith said while chastising those who were aware of sexual assault, domestic violence and other crime but chose not to report it.

“Just as we have seen constantly as it pertains to domestic violence, on most occasions after the crime has been committed, after the victim has been badly beaten, unfortunately, killed, then you will see the neighbours, the employees, the family members all coming up screaming and shouting that this has been going on for years. Everybody knew about it but not one person ever saw it fit to pick up a phone and submit a report for the police to let the police be aware,” he said.

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Re: AGAIN ? Not Another Child
« Reply #688 on: March 05, 2021, 08:07:41 PM »
Fresh DNA samples taken from Sean Luke accused
JADA LOUTOO (T&T NEWSDAY).


FRESH DNA samples were taken from the two men charged with the 2006 murder of six-year-old Sean Luke, earlier this week.

Results of the tests are expected to be ready in two weeks, senior prosecutor Sabrina Dougdeen-Jaglal told the court when the men’s trial resumed on Friday.

Dougdeen-Jaglal was responding to a complaint by defence attorney Evans Welch who said he was taken by surprise when he was told by a relative of his client, Richard Chatoo, that swab samples were taken from him and his co-accused Akeel Mitchell at the prison.

He acknowledged receiving an e-mail from the prosecutor, telling him that his client would be tested for DNA “this coming week”, but said he interpreted it to mean next week and had hoped that he would have been able to discuss the issue with his client.

He said the issue of DNA evidence was very significant and there “may be something in the Act (the Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) Identification Act) on the circumstances by which you can take a second sample.”

Welch said his client was also taken by surprise when the police showed up, in the middle of a trial, to swab Chatoo at the prison.

“My second concern is if it is an attempt being made to compare what they get from the accused with samples taken from the deceased, in the middle of a trial, one would think the process would be accelerated.

“I would not want to be taken by surprise by DNA evidence being dropped on me in the middle of a trial…I wouldn’t want it to come during the trial or to embark on any part of the trial then have DNA dropped on me…I would want the trial adjourned, as long and as many times as necessary,” as he sought to get from the prosecutor when the results and reports would be available.

In response, Dougdeen-Jaglal said she could not identify the exact date and time when the swabs were to be taken since it was for the prison authorities to sort out the logistics, and she was not privy to that information beforehand.

“I knew it was happening this week so I sent it (the e-mail) out on Monday, so that if they (the defence) wanted to consult with their clients, they would get the time to do that.”

In response to Welch’s claim that he was taken by surprise, she reminded that in early February she had indicated that the status of the exhibits, which included DNA testing, were still being pursued by the prosecution.

She said she had also filed, early on, a notice of fresh evidence and the results she expects to receive shortly was simply another aspect of ongoing disclosure.

“I play with my cards face up,” she said, adding that she chose not to raise the issue of the fresh evidence at this stage since the results were not yet ready.

At present the judge presiding over the judge-alone trial is engaging in a process called a voir dire in which the defence challenges certain evidence the prosecution intends to lead at the main trial.

Dougdeen-Jaglal acknowledged it would be irresponsible of the prosecution, and unfair to the defence, to start the main trial until the issue of the DNA evidence was resolved as “either way it can impact the trial in a significant way.”

In early February, she had admitted that the State hoped to be able to present the evidence in court but could not give a definitive timeline since the results collected by the police over a decade ago was still not available.

As she expressed hope that the issue could be resolved sooner, she pointed to a legal notice signed by National Security Minister Stuart Young on January 11, in which Caribbean Forensic Services was approved to conduct DNA testing for the State.

At Friday’s sitting, Cpl Nigel Stephens of the police audio-visual unit testified. During his evidence, a taped recording of an interview with one of the accused was played. He will return next Wednesday to complete his testimony while on Monday, the judge will rule on Mitchell’s voir dire.

Justice Lisa Ramsumair-Hinds is presiding over the trial which is being held in a hybrid form with some witnesses testifying virtually, while others are giving evidence either from the San Fernando High Court or the Judiciary’s virtual access centre facility in Port of Spain.

Mitchell is being represented by Mario Merritt, Randall Raphael and Kirby Joseph while Evans Welch, Kelston Pope and Gabriel Hernandez are representing Chatoo.

Luke’s body was found in a sugar cane field near his home at Orange Valley Road in Couva in March 2006.

The six-year-old had been sodomised with a sugar cane stalk that ruptured his intestines and internal organs.

Mitchell, now 28, and 30-year-old Chatoo were charged with the crime as teenagers.

The real measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Offline Deeks

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Re: Child Abuse & Murder News Thread
« Reply #689 on: March 06, 2021, 01:25:45 AM »
Mitchell, now 28, and 30-year-old Chatoo were charged with the crime as teenagers.

This the problem with the justice system in TT. These men in prison over 10 years. If they innocent, a big chunk of their lives gone to waste. If they are the ones that did it, the chances of them being found guilty are slim now.
« Last Edit: March 06, 2021, 05:58:50 AM by Deeks »

 

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