Foster mother jailed for two weeks

Jun 04, 2010 News

Girl, 5, brutalized…
Sunita Sookdeo, the foster mother of the five-year-old girl who was brutalized while in her care, was yesterday sentenced to two weeks imprisonment after she pleaded guilty to a charge of child abuse, while Alim Azeez, who was jointly charged with Sookdeo, pleaded not guilty and was remanded to prison.
The couple appeared before Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Wales Magistrate’s Court, West Bank Demerara.
The 13-year-old who was also allegedly involved in the beating of the child was placed in custody at the La Grange Police Station and will appear before the court on Monday.
The five-year-old was released Wednesday from the West Demerara Regional Hospital, Best Village.
Teachers at La Grange Nursery School, where the child attends, found marks of violence on various parts of her body.
According to a source, a teacher saw that the child had marks on her body and confronted the child. Upon closer examination, several severe abrasions were found. The teacher summoned her colleagues and a report was made to the police.
“She has a brand around her foot… the child said it was barbed wire. She has a cut on her hand and she said a boy (name given) cut her with a knife and a girl (name given) would take her clothes off and beat her with a belt,” the teacher had told this newspaper.
It was further revealed that the most recent beating was administered to the five-year-old after she took away a “shak shak” from Sunita Sookdeo’s child. The vicious assault allegedly escalated after Alim Azeez came home, with the 13-year-old reportedly joining the older pair in the brutal act.
The abused child’s foster mother was taken to the Ministry of Human Services earlier in the year after relatives claimed that the child was being neglected.