The Police Service has assured that anyone found to have abused children, as highlighted in two reports now in the public domain, will be charged and brought to justice.
The assurance comes from head of the Special Victims Department of the TTPS, acting Superintendent Claire Guy-Alleyne.
Guy-Alleyne is heading a special unit tasked with investigating a 1997 report compiled by Robert Sabga and the recent one by the Justice Judith Jones team into the operation of children’s homes.
At the TTPS weekly media briefing on Thursday, Guy-Alleyne outlined the scope of works of her team.
“The unit is responsible for investigating recent reports of the following crimes - sexual assault, physical assault, abandonment, neglect and ill-treatment of children.”
She explained that the Child Protection Unit (CPU) has departments in all 10 policing districts and has a collaborative relationship with the Children’s Authority of T&T.
“If after these investigations there is evidence, perpetrators and offenders are charged and taken before the courts of Trinidad and Tobago,” she said.
Guy-Alleyne made it clear that when the CPU was set up in 2015, it was given a mandate to ensure all children are safe, secure and well-protected under the law.
In the past weeks, there has been much public disquiet over the damning revelations unearthed in both the Justice Jones and Sabga reports, which told of several cases of all forms of abuse at children’s homes around the country.
On Wednesday, Archbishop Jason Gordon revealed that the Archdiocese of Trinidad and Tobago has launched an internal probe into allegations made in relation to abuse at homes under its control.
In a statement, Gordon said, “Every child is a gift from God and deserves love and protection from all forms of abuse. These allegations grieve our hearts and we shall do everything we can to bring healing and justice. The Church takes seriously any, and all, allegations of this nature.“
Before leaving for Guyana on Tuesday, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley called on acting Police Commissioner Mc Donald Jacob to find a copy of the 1997 Sabga report and investigate it.