3 boys in bar at night

The arrests came after the children — two brothers, eight and nine-years-old and their eight-year-old neighbour — told police, who were notified by the bar owner, that they were not in their McBean Village, Couva homes because their parents chased them away.

The police went to the children’s homes at Calcutta No 1 in McBean and took the parents into custody.

Police said the father of the two brothers was warned last week after he allegedly beat the younger of the boys with a length of cable. The brothers have not been sent to school since last year and instead were working with their father, making clothes racks from cable wire. The children were placed in the custody of the National Social Services yesterday afternoon and housed at children’s homes with the brothers being placed in a home in San Fernando while the neighbour was taken to a home in Gasparillo.

The proprietress of a bar along the Southern Main Road in Couva reported to police that at about 10 pm on Wednesday, when she was about to close up for the night, she saw the three children sitting on a bench next to the bar area.

She told police when she asked the children why they were not at home, they said that their parents told them to leave the house.

The children then wandered into the bar. She then took the children to the Couva Police Station.

The children told police they had not eaten when their parents chased them out of their homes. They said they were hungry and the bar owner purchased KFC for them. PC Anand Bissoon and PC Maharaj went in search of the parents.

At the home of the brothers, the police found the father, 52, asleep while the mother was not at home. Next door, the police found the 42-year-old mother and 56-year-old father of the third child.

The three were taken to the Couva Police Station where they spent the night.

The mother of the brothers is yet to be located, police said yesterday. A senior police officer said it is likely the children will remain in the custody of the State, for several months until the court recommends what action is to be taken.

He said the parents will have to be visited by probation officers who will compile reports on their social and physical environment to present to the magistrate before the children can be released back into their custody.

Up to late yesterday, personnel from the Social Services Division of the Ministry of Social Development were at the Couva Police Station, interviewing the parents.

Up to that time, bail was not granted to the parents.