Ranks of the Guyana Police Force in Region One are seeking the whereabouts of a 19-year-old man who reportedly impregnated an 11-year-old girl.  The girl, this publication understands, is currently eight months pregnant and has been a patient of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) since Tuesday (December 31).
The man at the centre of the situation, once apprehended, is expected to be charged with rape of a child, in accordance with the new Sexual Offences Act, according to Deputy Director of the Child Care and Protection Agency, Ms Stacey Fraser.
Reports of the pregnant child were first reported to the Port Kaituma Hospital.
Fraser disclosed that it was soon after the matter had gained the attention of the Child Care and Protection Agency that efforts were made to not only report it to the Police, but also to have the child brought to the capital city. The Deputy Director said too that the Agency had learnt that since the child was 10 years old her parents had sent her to live with the man who works in the backdam at Falls Top, Port Kaituma.
Reports are that efforts to capture the young man with whom the child lived were hindered because he was in an inaccessible area – due to inclement weather – when attempts were being made to arrest him.
According to Fraser, although the Child Care and Protection Agency has had to deal with a number of cases of child rape, she does not recall dealing, in the recent past, with any case where the child was that young. However, she noted that the Agency is well aware that in some far-flung regions, young girls engaging in sexual activities is accepted as a norm.
Moreover, Fraser said that the Agency has a constant role to “get the message across that this is not acceptable. It is hard to change the way people think, because these things might have been going on for generations, so we have to educate people about the laws, because it is always difficult to see a child getting a child,” said Fraser.
Another case currently gaining the attention of the Child Care and Protection Agency involves another pregnant girl from the Port Kaituma location. She, too, is currently a patient at the GPHC.
Fraser told this publication that while there are reports that the girl is 12 years old, she is adamant that she is 17 years old. Efforts to investigate the matter, Fraser said, have seen moves being made to ascertain the girl’s true age by tracking her through the school system.
This publication was also informed that another possible rape charge looms in a case which involves a 14-year-old girl from Laing Avenue, Georgetown. Reports are that the girl who was required to undergo an abortion was also seen at the GPHC. It is however not clear whether the abortion was optional or compulsory due to medical complications.
The latter matter has not yet been brought to the attention of the Child Care and Protection Agency, but according to Fraser, efforts will be made to investigate the reports.