Mom: I want justice

The Point Fortin mother told Newsday that her daughter, then 13 years old, was gang-raped while attending classes at the Point Fortin Senior Secondary School in July last year.

She said she noticed that her daughter, who was once talkative and jolly, had become withdrawn and had begun taking long excessive showers without explanation. When the concerned mother asked her daughter about her behaviour, the teen confessed that she had been gang-raped.

The mother told Newsday that the child was traumatised by the incident and refused to return to the school. The matter was reported to the principal and police officers at the Point Fortin Police Station. She said her daughter identified her attackers, but no one was suspended or charged.

In her quest for justice, the mother wrote several letters to the National Security and Education Ministers, Prime Minister Patrick Manning and even the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Geoffrey Henderson.

She received responses expressing sympathy with her plight, but was told that the matter had been passed on to the relevant authorities, namely the Commissioner of Police, for investigation.

The frustrated mother said she has received no positive feedback from the police to date, and she is still awaiting a status report from the police, which is to be passed on to her lawyer at Legal Aid to determine if any action can be taken.

Her daughter is currently on medication and has undergone numerous counselling sessions.