Parents, guardians and caregivers are being asked to be mindful of the company they keep them, especially around their children, even if those people are close to them.
“Your spouse, your boyfriends, your girlfriends, family members even and friends as well, if that person has a violent character or associations with persons who are involved in criminal activity, do not have your children around them,” head of the Special Victims Unit of the T&T Police Service, Sr Supt Claire Guy-Alleyne said yesterday.
Speaking at the TTPS media briefing, Guy-Alleyne said it’s important parents reduce their children’s exposure to danger and remove them from any such situation.
Her comment came following the murder of six-year-old Kylie Maloney, who was shot dead at her parents’ Sangre Grande home on Sunday. Three adults, including the child’s mother, were also wounded in that attack.
Guy-Alleyne also urged the public to report any abuse or suspected abuse to a child to the police. She said the Children’s Act, under Chap. 46:01 section 4, specifically creates an offence when it comes to the cruelty to children.
According to the act: “Where a person has responsibility for a child and— (a) the person wilfully assaults, ill-treats, neglects, abandons or exposes the child or causes or procures the child to be assaulted, ill-treated, neglected, abandoned, or exposed in a manner likely to cause that child suffering or injury to his physical, mental or emotional health; or (b) an infant under the age of three years dies whilst in bed or any other place with that person and it is proved that— (i) the death was not caused by disease or any other medical cause; and (ii) the person was, at the material time under the influence of drink, dangerous drugs or other substances having a similar effect and this resulted in the death of the child, the person commits the offence of cruelty to a child.”
Under the act, on summary conviction, an offender is liable to a fine of $5,000 and to imprisonment for six years; or (b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine of $50,000 and to imprisonment for ten years.
“Parents or the family as a whole should not ignore the fact that their family member or members are involved in gang activities, do something, take action and report this information to the police to have police intervention. It’s the only way we can protect our children,” Guy-Alleyne added.
She said ignoring this can be detrimental.
Guardian Media asked if parents should also consider having conversations about what to do in violent situations with their children.
Guy-Alleyne said those discussions are critical.
“We need to have the conversation when it comes to safety, for example you may be in the bathroom and someone knock on the door, a child should not answer that door at no time at all,” she said.
Sr Supt Rishi Singh said in 2022, 19 children were murdered and only eight of those killings were solved. The year before 11 children lost their lives to crime, with three of those murders being solved.
“Our analysis of the unsolved matters demonstrate that most significant probable cause is gang related, where the death of the children is collateral damage for some relative’s involvement in gang activity,” Singh said.
Singh said gang and drug-related murders are the hardest for the police to solve and contributed significantly to last year’s toll of 605 murders. Some 75 of those murders, according to Singh, were solved and 89 people charged.
“Of them 51 were altercations, 79 revenge, 245 gang-related activity, rape 1, robbery 52, drug 95, domestic intimate 12, domestic non intimate 13, line of duty 1, relationship motivated 8, unknown 47, mistaken identity listed as 1,” he said.
At the time of the press conference, Singh said there were 18 murders for 2023 and two were close to being solved.
Singh and Guy-Alleyne encouraged the public to say something if they see something by calling 555, 999 or using the police’s App.
