I want justice for my daughter – upset father

by Lyf Compton

The father of a teenage girl is calling on the police to take seriously the gang rape of his daughter that he said took place on September 24, 2018 by 10 of her schoolmates.

SEARCHLIGHT spoke to the father this Tuesday, and the distraught man said the incident happened one year ago and it is heart wrenching that no one has been charged.

“I was home when I heard,” the father said while adding that his grief is compounded by the fact that his daughter was violated on his birthday.

Reports are that at around 4:35 on Monday, September 24, 2018, 10 male students took turns having sex with the then 13-year-old student. The act is said to have been committed against the female student’s will in a classroom.

The matter was reported to the police but up to press time no one had been charged for the attack.

“I feel bad because up to now nothing has been done about it. Every time me birthday come around is like it go flash back to me,” said the father of the teenager.

He said the family is calling for justice and they have even gone as far as to visit Commissioner of Police (COP) Colin John who told them that the matter was being investigated, but it is a delicate situation seeing that the matter involves school aged children.

The father said that one of the worst things about the incident is that the accused males (between 13 and 16 years old at the time of the incident) still attend the same school as his daughter.

“She (his daughter) does talk about the thing and one day she say one of the boys does be threatening she still …,” said the father.

He added that the mother of one of the boys told him that her son told her about what happened and the boy claims he was led into the assault by his friends.

The father said at one point, he frequented the police station in his community to ask about the incident and on a few occasions, he saw some of the boys with their parents at the station, but no charges are forthcoming.

“This is an injustice because no justice ain’t happen, nothing nah go on. No case nah go on to say well…and the boy them continue going school and that not supposed to be,” said the angry father.

He added that he would never accept a fine as a satisfactory punishment as the boys who assaulted his daughter should learn that there are severe consequences for such behaviour.

“They suppose to learn because it have other people out there that they can go and endanger. And you put them in the same school where there are other female students going there and anything can happen,” said the man who lives in a community on the western coast of St Vincent.

He said the authorities should begin by placing the accused boys in different schools and then doing a proper investigation.

He said he never expected such a thing to happen to his daughter and that a few people in his neighbourhood know about what happened.
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