By Sue-Ann Wayow
WHILE staying at the home of a family friend, a 16-year-old girl was allegedly sexually abused by a 72-year-old man.
Police reported on Monday that the man was charged with 14 counts of sexual penetration of the girl, will appear at the Siparia Magistrates’ Court to answer to the charges.
The accused, who resides in Santa Flora, was arrested on Sunday by WPC Myers of the South-Western Division Child Protection Unit (CPU), following an investigation into a police report which detailed a series of alleged sexual abuse of a child.
Police stated that in February, CPU officers were alerted to the alleged incidents of sexual abuse by the relatives of the girl who told police that their niece was subjected to a series of sexual assaults by a man known to their family.
Throughout the course of the investigation, police discovered that while the child was staying at the home of a family friend, the man allegedly had sexual intercourse with her. The incidents are alleged to have occurred on February 2, 3 and 4 of this year.
The girl subsequently told her relatives about the incidents who later reported the matters to the CPU. The suspect was later arrested and charged with 14. The girl has since been removed from the family home and placed back into the care of her father.
The enquiry was headed by acting Superintendent of Police, Claire Guy-Alleyne, with direct supervision by acting Insp Knutt of the South-Western CPU.
Men charged for sexually touching their young nieces
And in two separate incidents, two men, who were charged with sexually touching their 11-year-old nieces, are expected to appear on Monday before a Port-of-Spain and San Fernando Magistrate to answer to the charges. They were arrested and charged on Sunday.
Police reported that the suspects, ages 38 and 40, were held by detectives of the Child Protection Unit (CPU) following investigations into two separate reports of sexual touching of two 11-year-old girls in May and September.
In the first incident, a 38-year-old man of Golconda was charged by WPC Quashie-Gay, of the Southern Division CPU, on Sunday, following a police report made on September 9 by an 11-year-old girl that her uncle allegedly touched her inappropriately. During the course of the investigation, CPU officers discovered that while the girl was a passenger in a vehicle driven by a man known to her, the suspect, allegedly placed his hands on her upper thigh and on her private part. The suspect was subsequently arrested and later charged with one count of sexual touching of a child.
In the second incident, Port-of-Spain CPU officers charged a 40-year-old man of Laventille following a police report made on May 22 where another 11-year-old child reported that she too was allegedly sexually touched by a man whom she knows. WPC Wright conducted further enquiries into the report during which she learnt that on a date unknown during the period April 1 – 30, the child was at her uncle’s apartment where he allegedly touched on her breasts and buttocks.
The suspect was also charged with one count of sexual touching of a child.
Both investigations were headed by acting Superintendent of Police Claire Guy-Alleyne with direct supervision by acting Insps Lopez and Khan of the CPU.
