The non-organisation organisation, Women Against Rape (WAR), has expressed disappointment at the decision that led to a police prosecutor accused of kidnapping and having sex with a 13 year-old child being able to walk free earlier this week.
“At age 13 there was a charge…how come now at this point in time there’s an acquittal when at age 13 the person was charged with an offence, granted that being charged with an offence does not mean that the person is guilty of an offence, so we need to look at all of those ramifications,” said WAR president Alexandrina Wong.
The girl had told the court that she no longer wanted to continue with the case against the police officer after she had spoken with her mother, counsellor and guardian.
She told Justice Keith Thom that she has forgiven the accused, and had she been in his shoes, she would have wanted to be forgiven as well.
The child, who is now a ward of the state, having been removed from her parents’ care, said she understood the seriousness of the allegations before the court which include one count of kidnapping and two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse – the latter is an offence which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Crown Counsel Shannon told the court that the girl, who is now 15 years old, had also spoken to her about the incident and the Director of Public Prosecutions, Anthony Armstrong had asked for the Directorate of Gender Affairs to be involved and to offer counselling to the teen.
As a result of the request from the teen not to proceed with the trial, the prosecution withdrew the charges, and the cop of over a decade service, walked out the court, free of all the allegations.
The police officer had been charged after the investigations had revealed that on July 26, 2016, during the Carnival celebrations that the child was working with a woman who sent her to a shop nearby.
While on the way, the officer allegedly approached the teen, whom he knew, and told her to join him in his vehicle and when she did not, he forced her inside and took her to his home. There, he allegedly engaged her in sex even though she was 13 and the age of consent is 16.
The following day, he allegedly reached out to her and she went to his home where he again, allegedly had sex with her contrary to the Sexual Offences Act which sets out the age of consent.
Wong, speaking on a radio programme here, said her organisation intends to “find out what led to this acquittal”.
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