Wakenaam man fears for daughter’s life following attack by ‘drug addict’

Oct 16, 2010 News

A Wakenaam man fears for the life of his 12-year-old daughter and that of his family after what he considered no action against a man who attempted to attack his daughter.
Hemray Chowtie, of Ridge, Wakenaam, said that on Tuesday his daughter was heading home from school when she was attacked by a man along a long stretch of road.

Concerned father Hemraj Chowtie.

“It got like two miles of lonely road and when me daughter was coming home from school a man run up to she with a knife and go fuh pull she off she bicycle,” Chowtie said.
The man said that his daughter attacker’s efforts were thwarted by another man who happened to be passing.
According to Chowtie, normally his daughter would go to a house and wait for her brother to accompany her down the lonely stretch of raid. He said that on Tuesday the child’s brother was on his way when the incident occurred.
“When she come home she crying and frighten so we went and mek a report to the police because everybody in the area know that dis man troublesome.”
Chowtie said the police were very accommodating with his report and hence his daughter’s attacker was charged.
However at the Wakenaam Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, the man said that he felt more could have been done. According to Chowtie on the first court appearance the Magistrate Faith Mc Gusty dismissed the matter.
People who witnessed the court hearing are of the opinion that a welfare officer should have been present in the hearing when the child was being question.
“This child was traumatized the day before and here you put her in court and ask her to recount what happened.”
The man said at least the Magistrate could have placed the accused on a bond to deter him from interfering with other people’s children. He said that news of the incident has driven fear into other schoolgirls who have to pass the area every day.
He said that he is now considering getting a transfer to another school just to ensure his daughter’s safety since the perpetrator has been issuing several threats to him and his family.
Late Thursday evening another report was lodged at the San Souci Police Station after the perpetrator was heard entertaining an audience in the area saying that he would mutilate the child and place the body on the road since she wanted to get him in trouble.
The man said that while he may be able to secure a transfer for his daughter he is also concerned for other female students who have to pass the area everyday in order to attend school. This newspaper has also been told that since the incident several parents in the Ridge area have not sent their children to school.
Ridge is an isolated community in Wakenaam that is separated from the other communities by some three miles of farm and unused land.
The man said that he and his family are now living in fear as the incident has also sparked memories of the Julie Sooklall incident.
Julie’s body was found some four years ago on a banana farm about 150 yards off the main road at Wakenaam in the vicinity of Sans Souci Cemetery. Julie was attacked, raped repeatedly and killed by three youths from the area while making her way to school.