Callous policemen

The 14 - and 15-year-old girls were gang-raped by four men each in the small hours of Sunday morning. The girls, who are students at a Central junior secondary school, had been liming at a pub in Chaguanas, and left there with two men. They went to a galvanise shack in Enterprise Village, where they were reportedly confronted by about 15 men. "They look for that," the police told this newspaper. "It serve them right."

Now it was admittedly foolish for the girls to put themselves in such a situation. But, although the police officer who made the comment may not be aware of this, stupidity is not a crime punishable by rape.

Besides, the girls may not have been guilty of stupidity, but only of bad judgment. After all, they left the pub with two men who, presumably, they knew.

Perhaps the two teenagers went to the shack to have sex with these two men, but they certainly did not consent to have sex with four men each. And, although they might be criticised for being poor judges of character, and even for poor character because they went to the shack with the men, that does not mean that it "served them right" to be gang-raped — to say nothing of the possibilities of getting pregnant and contracting a sexually transmitted disease.

If blame has to be attached to anyone in this situation, it is to the adults involved. It is unlikely, for example, that these girls have responsible parents.

While parents may find it difficult to stop their teenage children from liming, responsible parents try to ensure that their children go out in a group and return home at a reasonable hour. It seems, however, that these girls were allowed reins too free for them to handle. Also at fault were the persons in charge of the pub, since it is illegal for 14 - and 15-year-olds to be allowed into places which serve alcohol.

So the police, instead of making self-righteous remarks, should spend their energies prosecuting the pub owner for allowing under-aged persons into his establishment. And, lest they forget, the police also have a duty to locate and arrest the eight rapists and their accomplices — despite the officers’ apparent view that these men were instruments of justice.

Loath as adults may be to admit it, young people will always do stupid things. That is part and parcel of being young, and most adults forget their own youthful foolishness because their stupid acts had trivial or no consequences. But adults, as a society, have a responsibility to help young persons avoid those acts which can have serious outcomes. One such area is educating girls on avoiding rape.

The teenagers in this case may have broken every rule there is: they were out late; they were probably drinking alcohol; they went to a lonely area; and they made themselves vulnerable to men who they didn’t know well.

But it is very likely that these girls did not even know that there are principles to follow to avoid being raped. After all, there are big women who, especially during these Carnival weeks, will find themselves in the exact same situation.

We wish to remind policemen that the fact that young girls may be wayward does not give any man the right to inflict the abuse of rape which is a most heinous crime.

We can only remind all women to be especially careful this week, and urge the police to mitigate their thoughtless remarks by tracking down the perpetrators of this crime.