…caught red-handed by teacher
Nine students of a West Coast Berbice primary school have allegedly been sexually molested by a deportee who lives in close proximity to the institution.
Reports are that the students comprise seven girls and two boys. <<Guyana Times>> understands there were encounters with students and the suspect in the past, and this was reported to the school’s administration. As such, the man was banned from entering the school’s compound. According to a source close to the investigation, the Police were not contacted when the issue first surfaced late last year.
However, on Thursday, a teacher reportedly caught the man in the toilet with some of the girls. It was then that some students reported that over the past two weeks he has been frequenting the school and luring some of the students with food purchased from a nearby vendor.
According to one of the students, the man purchased hot dogs for them. One Thursday the man allegedly bought $1000 in food items and reportedly invited some of the female students to the washroom area. The source said the man then lured some of the girls in the washroom where he allegedly committed the act.
One student, in the presence of her parents, told this publication that she and others alerted a teacher.
“He buy hotdog fuh we and we tell he we ain’t want, and he still force us…he carry some children in the canteen and he buy sweetie and so fuh dem and tell dem let them tek what them want…then he go in the toilet and he feel up my friends private parts,” the student related in her parents’ presence.
This publication was told that after the teacher was alerted, she went to the washroom and caught the man with the students. He fled the scene, but the students were all questioned.
According to the source, it was then that the students revealed that the incident has been going on for two weeks now.
The matter was reported to the Police, and the parents of the students were called to the school. The children were all taken to the Fort Wellington Hospital for a medical examination.
One parent told this publication that two of her children related that Thursday’s incident was not the first.
According to that parent, while there was no sexual penetration, the suspect had touched the students in inappropriate ways.
“He hold them on their private parts and on their back and hug them and squeeze them and bite them,” one parent related.
Police went to the home of the suspect, but later arrested him on the road. According to some of the parents, the suspect is known to them. According to one alleged victim’s mother, he lives close by and had been frequenting the school last year, but had suddenly disappeared.
There are also reports that the suspect was allowed to assist many children in the village with their reading.
The suspect remains in custody as the investigation continues.
