Minors arrested over “sparkles”

Nov 02, 2008 News

Richard Jacobs, a concerned father of Sixth Avenue, Bartica, is complaining about the treatment that his children received at the hands of a senior police rank at the Bartica Police Station.
According to Jacobs, his two children, aged eight and ten, were outside in the yard on Diwali Night playing with “sparkles”. The man further told this newspaper that other children were at the front of the yard playing with steel wool.
He said that the officer was passing along and something may have “touched him.” He added that the officer “just picked” his children and took them to the Bartica Police Station, without notifying anyone.
The man said that he was alerted by other children who were in front of the yard that a “man jus gone with me children”. After being alerted by the young children, Jacobs said, he immediately rushed to the police station to report the “abduction” of his children. But, to the father’s surprise, he was greeted by his young children sitting on the prisoner’s bench.
Jacobs said that he enquired from the officer in charge why his children were on the “bench” and what they had done. The man said that the policeman told him that his children threw something on him which could have caused him to lose his sight.
The father said that if this was indeed the case, why didn’t the officer enquire from the children about the whereabouts of their parents?
The man added that the police officer just took his children who are minors and placed them on the “prisoners’ bench” like criminals. After much deliberation, the children were finally released a few minutes short of midnight.
Jacobs is urging the relevant authorities to look into this matter. He added that minors should not be taken to the police station without their parents being notified.