Amy Annamunthodo never had a chance. And the blood of her untimely, horrific demise at the hands of her step-father is on our hands as much as it is on his. On Thursday, a jury found Marlon King guilty of murder in the savage beating death of the child in his care, Amy. Even as the verdict was being read, King tried to present evidence that he didn't kill her. He was sentenced to death. He still would like us to believe that he had nothing to do with her being "beaten to death," a euphemistic term to be sure.
Amy had cigarette burns to her chest, abdomen, back and vagina. Amy had lacerations, tears, bleeding, scrapes and bruises on her neck, eye, chest, shoulder, palm, back of her right hand, her heart. Amy had lacerations, tears, bleeding, scrapes and bruises in her brain, lungs, spleen, liver, adrenal glands, kidney, abdomen, pelvic area, upper, mid- and lower back, and bottom. Amy's hymen had been ruptured. Amy's anus had been ruptured.
Sean Luke, Chandroutie...
Some people live in a different world. We comfort ourselves by saying it's a far-removed world. Sean Luke lived in that other world. Sean was sodomised with a cane stalk. Sean bled to death in the cane field. Pamanand Persad lived in that other world. He had just become a teenager when he was buggered, beaten, tortured and murdered in Crown Trace, Enterprise.
Dane Andrews lived in that world. He was 12 when he was "fished out" of a pond in New Grant, Princes Town. He was drowned after being sexually assaulted. Chandroutie London lived in that world. Chandroutie had no real education. She was sexually abused by her father and other relatives. She met, married and was subjugated at 18 by a man who also sexually abused her. He shaved her vagina on the beach to exorcise her of spirits. Chandroutie was sentenced to death for killing and dumping her baby in a latrine.
Many more lived in that world. Lily Seepersad, seven; Radha "Pixie" Lakhan, 16; Mastaq Benoit, 16; Lisa Sammy, 17; Zakiyah Mitchell, 14 months; Dion Barclay, 16; Shernelle Codrington, 16; Ricardo McKenzie, 16; Jashouna Hypolite, 15; Neil Clement, 17; Mikhaeil Alleyne, 13; Dario Mc Coy, 16; Jevon La Monte, 17; Simeon King, 16; Kimo Richards, 15; Kyle Grant, 17; Akel Gafoor, 17; Ronald Palakdhari, 16; Shahida Phillip, 16; Dominic Thomas, 16; Michael Forde, 14; Tecia Henry, 10; Ashwaria Boodoo, five; Kristina Boodoo, 15 months; Daniel Guerra, seven. (Compiled by Nalini Seebalack and Anne Marie Bissessar.)
Many of these children never had a chance in life to begin with. In their world, the cultures and norms are different. They didn't know about Facebook and Carnival and upward mobility. They knew abuse, torture, torment, coercion, Obeah, licks, neglect, sex, rum, poison.
My neighbour, Amy
We ignore that world even when it's right before us. Amy was practically my neighbour. She lived and died on a new street that had been built near what used to be Union Park Race Track. It seemed like an extension of the squatter 'train line' that ripped Marabella in two.
When I'd drive by to visit my parents during my UWI days, I'd see them bareback, playing loud music, standing in the road. Some sold things like coconuts. Some lay in hammocks all day. I'd have to slow down lest I knock down a child. I asked my parents whether these people were also squatters. They gave a hesitant "no." Indeed, these people seemed no different.
They seemed no different to the other people in that other world. A relative taught those children for many years at a government school in the area. She told me about children coming to school with bruises and welts. They didn't bathe. They were without lunch. They'd be beaten with pieces of wood, iron, garden hoses. They'd be made to kneel down on an ants' patch for punishment.
She and the other teachers would sometimes call social services. But there was fear. As often as the 'authorities' would be called the parents would show up, threatening the teachers with a similar fate to their children's. Amy's neighbours felt that fear, too. They feared Marlon King, the "badjohn of the area." They called the Community Police at least once: once during the years that they witnessed the abuse and malnutrition of Amy, King "body-slamming a woman onto a wheelbarrow" and threatening to set her on fire, King inviting men to his makeshift house for sex parties.
Social Services returned Amy to her "family." Police never protected Amy. Child Protection Acts are a foreign tongue to us. Child welfare is nothing we really know about. Politicans talk about bulls and matadors. It's no longer reasonable to ask what goes on in this world. Read it above. It's no longer fair to say we don't know where this world is. It's next door. It's no longer fashionable to say we don't know who these people are. I provided a list. And it's no longer becoming of us to ignore what is clearly a very real problem in this very real world, our world.