Bartica cop watches cricket while child recounts sexual abuse

The mother of a five-year-old girl, who is among three children reporting that they were sexually abused by a male relative, is decrying the attitude of a senior police officer at the Bartica Police Station whom she said blamed her for the abuse and attempted to dissuade her from making a report.

The woman said that while her daughter was detailing her ordeal, the officer watched a cricket match on television and kept asking the child to repeat some of the allegations because he could not hear above the loud audio of the television set. It was not until the community’s welfare officer visited the station and turned down the television set, that the child was able to relate her ordeal.

The five-year-old girl along with a six-year-old girl and five-year-old boy – all cousins – have related that the reputed husband of a relative had repeatedly sexually abused them over a period of time. Medical examinations of the girls have confirmed that they were abused.

The parents of the children are now up in arms because the police have released the 22-year-old suspect

is he fired yet?