A few weeks ago, the quiet life of an 87-year old female pensioner in south Trinidad was shattered when, at around four o’clock in the next morning, she was reportedly raped by a 24 year old labourer who had invaded her home
The elderly woman told police that when she screamed to raise an alarm, the intruder dealt her several blows and then raped her.
He then ransacked her bedroom and allegedly stole a pouch containing $2,000 then escaped.
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As this kind of narrative makes the rounds more and more among concerned professionals, this writer easily recalls being directly aware of a few similar stories in his own lifetime – although they then seemed to be par for the course.
There was one young, strong, married man who –like a young welder of similar age– over drinks how “I just love to f- a old Indian woman! I can’t help it!”
Notwithstanding their kinky passion, it is interesting how:
- The first man jumped to his death from the General Hospital after being warded there for what some said was an epileptic fit but those who knew him better called it the result of a hard drug overdose; and
- After slamming his company’s back-pay cheque down to the ground in disgust because he felt it was insufficient (a large portion had been taken at source by the government tax collector), the second man gripped his chest in pain, crashed to the floor and died of a heart attack in the office of the firm he had served for about 10 years.
Other cases involving reports of old women being raped include:
An 82-YEAR-OLD woman was raped while walking through Valsayn early in the morning. According to the Express, Police launched a manhunt for the suspect who escaped from the scene of the crime “after throwing the woman out of his car and onto the roadway.
Wha kinda freak ting going on in Trinidad?? Asked YoungTaz De Sivva in his posted reaction to this story.
Meanwhile, a stern warning was sent out by Gender-Based Violence Unit of the TTPS, ASP Claire Guy-Alleyne who said that “Anyone who has the responsibility to care for elderly people and neglects or abuses them can be charged with human trafficking”.
The warning came in an update on the condition of a 92-year-old woman who was rescued by police from a ‘house of horrors’ in El Dorado.
In an interview yesterday, Guy-Alleyne said the woman has since been placed in a safe house. She said the woman was treated at a hospital for open wounds on her legs after being removed from her home where she was allegedly being neglected and abused by a relative.
One of the woman’s neighbours, Latoya Greaves, had appealed on social media for police and the social services to intervene after she found the woman lying helpless in the rain in her front yard on Sunday afternoon. The woman lived at the house with a relative, who neighbours have accused of neglecting, ill-treating and abusing the woman on a daily basis. The house itself resembled a dump, with huge piles of garbage dominating the entire property, including the bedrooms, kitchen and bathroom areas.
“She is safe and sound, she is at a location that we will not disclose for obvious reasons. Her wounds were attended to and she is okay. Going forward, her health will be monitored on a continuous basis,” Guy-Alleyne said yesterday.
She said police are yet to interview the woman adding the woman’s wellbeing is paramount before any investigation can begin. Guy-Alleyne sent out a warning to those who have the responsibility for elderly people, as she said those who are found culpable of neglect or abuse can face stiff penalties.
ASP Guy Alleyne Trinidad
“Once you have elderly persons and you have a family member or friend who would be accepting money on behalf of the elderly person and they are not taking care of that person, they can be committing offences under the Trafficking Act so we would be investigating this matter to the fullest to see whether or not that was the case,” Guy-Alleyne said.
She also sent out an appeal to members of the public to speak out when they suspect someone is being abused.
The question about old women being over-exposed to harm, is reflected in the case of a number of young women where “no less than 25 young women are being represented by the Humanitarian Foundation for Positive Social Change which ” has taken unprecedented legal action against the T+T government”
This for alleged failure of the police “to investigate reports of cybercrime to investigate multiple sex crimes committed against children in the increasingly sickening cyberspace” – according to a report by Khamrie Rodrigiee in the Sunday Express dated May 28, 2023.
The Sunday Express had previously reported that “Online groups have grown sharing thousands of imagery of child pornography, sexual abuse imagery, spy cam-stylized images of unwitting victims, and non-consensual intimate images of a number of young Trinidadian women from as far back as 2015”
Among the victims were three persons who were reported to have been threatened .
One claimant reported of having been warned by an officer of the TTPS (whose name has been sealed but to whom the Sunday Express will refer as Inspector S), after reporting the phenomena , that she could “end up dead on the road”
And quite apart from constant suffering from the memory of the heinous nature of the crime , the torture has been exacerbated by the inordinately long periods which the victims have to endure during trials.
In a matter brought by attorneys Larry Boyer and Lee Merry, for example, the Court was asked to consider whether a victim’s rights were infringed by a four-year delay in hearing a preliminary enquiry into a charge of rape.
The case, filed in 2022, concerns a female victim who was 16 years old when she was allegedly brutally attacked by an older man who was in a position of trust.
The charge was called before the magistrate on 23 occasions.
Documents disclosed by the Judiciary in this matter revealed that it can take “decades” for a trial to take place in the High Court after filing of an indictment.
One rape matter completed in 2019 took 41 years from indictment to trial, while others took 23 years, 30 years and 13 years to compete respectively.
“Whenever the matter comes up, I cry before and after court. Weeks before the court date I get depressed and I am unable to sleep”, one victim stated.
No matter the committed vast amount of resources expended on improving the judicial system therefore, it seems – at least from the point of view of the victims and the accused – that nothing is working in their favour.
Newsday Trinidad
Nonetheless, we still patiently wait in hope and faith that these cases will be resolved and that crime will be reduced in general as we move forward with the hope of a brighter tomorrow for ourselves and our children.
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Crime – Becoming acquainted with the Police and making contacts; Building relationships with the Criminal element, Churches and Community organizations; Understanding the situation from the perspective of Psychiatrists, Religious people, Community Leaders, Local Government officials, Social Workers, Educators and Victims.
Business and Industry – Knowing the Business and what it strives on; its principles and protocols, the Law; Owning and operating a Media House – the hazards of possible ligation and threats to one’s life and safety; its vital role in helping people shape images of themselves and their behaviour patterns; their collective goals and ambitions in terms of their identification with those whom they have put in power.
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