Granny takes teen granddaughter to court

Unable to control the child, the grandmother of Pepper Village, Fyzabad, filed a complaint in the Siparia Magistrates’ Court on February 9 against the girl’s unruly behaviour.

The girl was served with a summons by court clerks on February 9. That day, the girl, who is a Form One pupil of a secondary school in South Trinidad, was taken before Magistrate Rae Roopchand in the Second Police Court in Siparia.

The girl will reappear again tomorrow before the magistrate to answer the complaint in the summons which is listed as "uncontrollable behaviour."

After an hour of admonishing the girl on February 9, Roopchand ordered that she be remanded for two weeks at the St Jude’s Home for Girls in Belmont. The magistrate made the order after the girl begged him for an opportunity to mend her ways.

The grandmother had told the magistrate that the girl, who lives with her, came home from school late in the evening on several days during the last month. On one occasion, she arrived at her grandmother’s house at about 8.30 pm. The grandmother told the magistrate that she was convinced that her granddaughter was having a relationship with a youth in the district.

The girl’s mother lives abroad while her father visits her on weekends.

The grandmother also told the magistrate that the girl had stolen money and jewelry. She also shoplifted, the grandmother said. She had become so unruly that teachers complained about her delinquent behaviour.

On one occasion, the grandmother said, teachers reported that the girl had taken a bottle of rum to school in her bookbag.

The grandmother yesterday told Newsday that she had first reported the matter at the Fyzabad Police Station. Officers there advised her to lay a complaint with the Justice of the Peace in the Magistrates’ Court.

The girl is due to reappear in court tomorrow, but the grandmother yesterday told Newsday that her granddaughter escaped from the St Jude’s Home.

Officials at the St Jude’s home informed the grandmother on Sunday that her granddaughter was missing. On Monday, the grandmother reported the matter to the Fyzabad police.