An­na-Lisa Paul

Se­nior Re­porter

an­na-lisa.paul@guardian.co.tt

Two rel­a­tives of a one-year-old ba­by girl are to be charged with at­tempt­ed mur­der and two oth­er of­fences in re­la­tion to the al­leged abuse of the in­fant.

Five days af­ter the po­lice re­ceived a re­port that a one-year-old girl was al­leged­ly beat­en whilst in the care of rel­a­tives at a house in Clax­ton Bay, in­ves­ti­ga­tors were yes­ter­day giv­en the green light to charge two peo­ple.

The in­struc­tions were yes­ter­day hand­ed down by the Di­rec­tor of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tions (DPP) to of­fi­cers from the Child Pro­tec­tion Unit (CPU).

As­sis­tant Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice (ACP) Wayne Mys­tar con­firmed they had re­ceived in­struc­tion to charge the sus­pects at 11 am yes­ter­day.

Re­gard­ing the re­port of child abuse re­ceived on Oc­to­ber 2, he said, “Of­fi­cers of the CPU had an au­di­ence with the DPP to­day (yes­ter­day), and the DPP ad­vised that a 24-year-old fe­male and a 44-year-old male be charged for at­tempt­ed mur­der, ne­glect and ill-treat­ment of a child.”

The child, who has been re­ceiv­ing med­ical treat­ment since be­ing res­cued by the po­lice on Sep­tem­ber 26, was said to be in a safe and sta­ble con­di­tion up to Sun­day.

The charges fol­lowed sev­er­al days of in­ves­ti­ga­tions in­to the al­leged beat­ing and stomp­ing of the one-year-old girl, who was found strug­gling to breathe at a rel­a­tive’s house by of­fi­cers who re­spond­ed to a trou­ble call from mem­bers of the pub­lic.

The child’s grand­fa­ther claimed she had pre­vi­ous­ly fall­en in Ju­ly while in the care of her 19-year-old moth­er, and had been hos­pi­talised as a re­sult. Af­ter be­ing dis­charged then, the Chil­dren’s Au­thor­i­ty and the CPU placed her in the care of a fe­male rel­a­tive.

Re­ports of abuse emerged short­ly af­ter the ba­by was placed with the fe­male rel­a­tive in Au­gust, which re­sult­ed in the child be­ing moved from her moth­er’s home in Clax­ton Bay, to an area along the Mara­bel­la Train­line.

The bad­ly in­jured child was re­turned to her moth­er and her moth­er’s fam­i­ly on Sep­tem­ber 26 but was suf­fer­ing from a bro­ken rib, bruis­es about the body, and a burn mark on her leg from an iron.