girl smacks child....5 years in Jail.... Police beat the hell out of Amerind Mother and child on video...not a damn thing happens....Guyana justice for you. I hope this case is appealed.
The PPP should demand that every native girl brought out of the interior be registered with the Amerind Minister and a report on her status updated by a social worker. These newly rich pricks take too much advantage of our people with them having no recourse in the law.
This magistrate...Magistrate Sueanna Lovell... ought to be damn shame of her self. Drug dealers caught red handed with 40 kilos of cocaine do not get tried in a week an d sent to jail! They get bailed and wait years then get off!
This poor girl is tried and jailed in under a week of the matter being reported so she could not have been provided proper legal council. Pending appeal she should be free!
Protest erupts over 19-year-old babysitter’s conviction
- Activists call for Judicial Service Commission to control Magistrates
Activists from three human rights groups yesterday lobbied the members of the Caribbean Court of Justice who were meeting at the Guyana International Conference Centre during the sitting of the Court.
They were protesting the imprisonment of a teenaged babysitter who assaulted a Magistrate’s toddler.
The protestors expressed their dissatisfaction with the ruling of Magistrate Sueanna Lovell who, in her ruling last Friday, handed down the maximum allowable sentence for any conviction in the lower court against the 19-year-old babysitter.
On Sunday, the ruling was made public by Kaieteur News and has been met with sharp criticisms from the Guyana Women Miners Organisation, Red Thread and Amerindian Peoples Association whose members yesterday carried placards which decried the prison sentence. They described it as “inhumane.”
The crowd protesting at the Conference Center.
In their calls for justice, the demonstrators urged the Judicial Service Commission to “control its Magistrates” highlighting the maximum penalty allowed has been meted out to the 19-year-old.
Ms. Simona Broomes, President of the Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO) related that they (activists) are seeking to have urgent measures taken to guarantee the rights of the 19-year-old.
“The maximum penalty for assault causing actual bodily harm to a child is what this young lady received in this instance— 60 months’ imprisonment,” Broomes told reporters.
“I think it’s a sad situation and we are calling to say ‘Listen we think it’s something that they need to review and look at the length of time, the kind of interest that’s given.’ The NGOs have come together and this is just one of the calls where we are demonstrating our solidarity and our partnership across the board,” she said.
Echoing her concerns was Ms. Karen De Souza of Red Thread. “Today’s action is in solidarity with a 19-year-old who has been given the maximum penalty by Magistrate Lovell.”
De Souza bemoaned the way in which the justice system has dealt with the issue. “In the court matters take forever to come to conclusion. In less than a week, this matter has been investigated; she has been taken to court and she has been sentenced. Something is terribly wrong with the state of justice.”
“We are calling on the Chancellor and the Judicial Service Commission to investigate the sentencing policy with Magistrates. There have been many complaints before but this one is really striking. You would send a 19-year-old to jail because your friend has a complaint? We can’t read it any other way,” she lamented.
“We are not prepared to accept this action from the court and this is in the context of our campaigning against corporal punishment. We are campaigning against teachers in the schools and parents in the home who are beating the children. This is wrong it is out of order.”
“We are saying that the babysitter was wrong to hit the child but this sentence is not justice. It’s not anything to do with the laws of this country. Something else is at work here and it must be investigated and this sentence must be repealed,” De Souza stressed.
The activist added, “There is no way that we should accept that a 19-year-old would be sentenced to five years because a Magistrate makes a complaint to another Magistrate. No! No! Things are bad in this country but we really cannot accept that it is as bad as this.”
When asked what their plans are to address the issue, she stated that they will continue discussing courses of action and that they have to write letters to the authorities concerned. They will be continuing with public demonstrations.
Meanwhile, adding to their sentiments was Ms. Jean La Rose, Administrator for the Amerindian Peoples Association, who stated that her organisation will be looking to see if the interest of the young woman was taken into account during the court proceedings.
She indicated they will be checking to verify whether she had legal representation. (The case) went through the court really fast which is unusual in Guyana.
“We are wondering if it is because of the presence of the people involved in the judicial system that the case came so rapidly and a decision to be made so rapidly.”
“For us, it’s a case of if there was an incident that took place, if investigations prove that certain things happened, if a child was abused then any rightful thinking parent, mother, person would not condone that.”
“However, there is another side to the justice system where you’re innocent until you’re proven guilty and that we have to look into whether the young woman actually had legal representation and what actually took place when there was a confrontation and when there was dialogue as to what took place in that area.”
“Very often our young men and women are taken out of the interior communities and are paid very little and no recourse to go back home or send money. We are unaware of the conditions under which they are employed.”
