It has been more than three years since eight-year-old Leah Lammy went missing, but her aunt, Christine Francis, is convinced that she was trafficked and is still alive. "Leah was ten last August," she told the Guardian yesterday. "I dream that Leah is still alive. I know she is not dead. "I can't tell exactly what country she is in but I know they did not kill her."
Lammy disappeared on February 10, 2009, after she left her Longdenville home to take a taxi to school in Chaguanas. Her mother, Gail Lammy, has not moved on and is traumatised whenever she sees a picture of Leah or is reminded of her, Francis said. Francis, who organised marches for Leah after her disappearance, said the last the family heard about the case was that a 33-year-old Longdenville PH taxi driver was arrested and charged.
The man was also arrested in connection with the disappearance of Sally Lobai, 26, and Riana Parag, 18. Lobai disappeared on February 11, 2009, after she attended a job interview in Chaguanas. Parag went missing on December 16, 2009, after visiting a flea market in Chaguanas. Francis said Leah's mom "just lives from day to day".
"A lot of things remind her of Leah, a little child walking down the road looking like Leah..." Leah's brother, Josiah, 11, was affected so badly that he was unable to write the Secondary Entrance Assessment examination last year, Francis said. "He couldn't focus on his schoolwork and they kept him back one year.
"He would say, Aunty, why this world have so much wicked people and ask if his sister could come back." Francis was happy about the recent passage of the Children Bill, which imposes harsh penalties for child abusers. "It would help it if they really enforce it," she noted.
Francis believes if the Bill was passed earlier, a lot of children's killings would have been avoided. "It would have put fear in the killers," she said. Minister in the Ministry of Gender, Youth and Child Development, Ramona Ramdial, promised that focus will be placed on the implementation of the bill. "We will sensitise the public so people can know who to report to.
"We are planning to train the police with respect to the implementation of the bill and the justice system needs to be stepped up," she said yesterday. Ramdial said if the bill was passed earlier, it would have made a difference. "Laws protecting children in other countries have criminals thinking twice." She said the Bill would not end child abuse but will produce results.
"It's a little late in coming but you will see results. "The penalties are harsher and more stringent than before. There is life imprisonment for the rape of a child, for instance. "The Children's Authority will ensure that children's homes and organisations are governed under certain rules.
"There is also a unit in the Authority to take reports of child abuse, and we have the hotline, 800-Save." Criminal psychologist and university lecturer, Renee Cummings, believes legislation alone cannot save children. Implementation of the law and more collaboration with academia, a reframing of the role of government, a re-education of law enforcement, a reassessing of the criminal justice system and a reinvention of juvenile justice and delinquency prevention are also needed, she said.
Minister of Gender, Youth Affairs and Child Development, Verna St Rose-Greaves, said Cummings' opinion was sound and noted that her ministry is doing what needs to be done. Phillip Edward Alexander of The Jericho Project, which recently marched against child abuse, said the Bill is a step in the right direction.
"A lot of offences were committed against children because child abusers had no fear of retribution. "The law shows there will be serious consequences," he said.
