Works and Transport Minister Fitzgerald Hinds has slammed the police for their handling of the father of five-year-old Josiah Henry, who drowned after falling into a drain at his Belmont home during heavy rain last Friday.
Speaking at Henry’s funeral at Guides Funeral Home, Piccadilly Street, Port-of-Spain, yesterday, Hinds described the actions of the police, in arresting his father, Jerome, immediately after the child’s body was recovered as insensitive.
Jerome Henry was arrested minutes after Josiah’s body was recovered floating off Wrightson Road, almost 24 hours after he went missing.
While Hinds stated the police had a duty to investigate the incident, he said a softer approach should have been taken with the grieving father, who was eventually charged with willful neglect for leaving Henry and his seven-year-old sister, Christine, unattended as he went to work that morning.
Hinds said he had visited the Belmont Police Station after Jerome’s arrest and advocated for his release.
“I spoke with the senior officers and tried to make them understand what this man was going through,because he was now suffering from triple jeopardy.
“As a lawyer and MP I understand the law but the law must be our servant and not our master.
“He (Jerome) is not here today because somebody decided that the law must be our master,” Hinds said.
He also criticised police and prisons officers for denying Jerome the opportunity to attend his son’s funeral yesterday.
The T&T Guardian understands that although Jerome was granted $75,000 bail when he appeared in court to answer the charges on Monday morning, he was unable to access bail up to late yesterday.
While he was not allowed to attend yesterday’s funeral as he is still on remand, he was taken to the funeral home hours before the service and allowed to view his son’s body.
“I was told that there was certain procedure because of security and I understand the need for it. A number of officers came to get him so they could have brought him here today,” Hinds said.
He also called on family and friends to stop blaming the boy’s father for his death and instead support his parents, noting they were deeply traumatised.
“I know as a father he did not plan it that way because if he knew it would happen like it did it would not have,” Hinds said.
Henry, a fan of the popular video game Angry Birds, was buried in a miniature sky blue coffin with a sticker of the game affixed. His mother, Jaime Gray, had to be restrained and consoled by relatives as she lunged at the coffin at the start of the brief service.
During his address, Hinds also praised members of the Belmont community, who he said assisted in searching for Henry.
“The young men of Belmont, for all their faults and idling, I understand that once the news broke all of them got to searching and did all they can,” Hinds said.
What law says
Jerome Henry, the father of five-year-old Josiah, who drowned in a drain near his Belmont home, was charged with negligently causing cruelty to the child and his seven-year-old sister by exposing them to danger after leaving them at home alone.
Section 4 of the Children’s Act, under which he was charged, states that “where a person has responsibility for a child and the person willfully assaults, ill-treats, neglects, abandons or exposes the child or causes or procures the child to be assaulted, ill-treated, neglected, abandoned or exposed in a manner likely to cause that child suffering or injury to his physical, mental or emotional health the person commits the offence of cruelty to a child.”
Henry is liable under summary conviction to a $5,000 fine and six years in prison and if he chooses to have his case heard by a judge and jury, he will face a $50,000 fine and imprisonment for up to ten years.
Under the legislation, a person charged under the legislation has a defence if they can prove they were unable to adequately care for the child because of an infirmity of the mind or body.