10 kids sent to orphanage

Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Winston Copper yesterday instructed senior police officers to launch a full-scale investigation into reports of sexual abuse and neglect at the Cry Foundation home in Claxton Bay.

He has also ordered an investigation into the failure by policemen to probe a report two weeks ago about the alleged abuse at the home.

The ten children, six girls and four boys whose ages range from five to 14, were expected to undergo medical examinations yesterday.

Couva Senior Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar yesterday granted an application petitioned by the police and medical social worker Vashti Raghbir. The magistrate ordered that the children become wards of the State. The order will expire on June 9.

The children are being kept at St Mary’s Children’s Home, Tacarigua.

On Thursday, Couva police swooped down on the home and took away the ten children. Police acted on reports that the children, all students of Mt Pleasant Government Primary School, were being sexually molested and beaten.

Yesterday, a party of police officers accompanied by a police photographer, went to the home and took pictures of the surroundings.