Two weeks after a father of three was convicted of beating his daughter, head of the Child Protection Unit (CPU), Supt Beverly Rodriguez is advising parents to be careful when disciplining their children.
Speaking at the weekly police media briefing yesterday, Rodriguez said there were over 400 reported cases of abuse cases involving children this year.
She warned: “What would I advise, there is a very thin line between abuse and disciplining your child. You need to be very careful in how you discipline your child, depending on the extent you go, you could be brought before the court for abuse.”
On November 9, a 41-year-old man from East Dry River, Port-of-Spain was fined $3,000 or in default, face three months hard labour after he was charged with cruelty.
De Leon Celestine was found guilty of beating his 14-year-old daughter, on June 2, 2016, causing suffering and injury to her health.
The child disclosed the beating to a school social worker the next day, who referred the matter to the Child Protection Unit.
Yesterday, Rodriguez said with the introduction of the Children’s Court hopefully to be completed this year, children charged with criminal offences will be tried in the three courts being set up throughout Trinidad and one in Tobago.
The aim of the court, which was expected to have been operational since December 2016, is to deal with juveniles with restorative justice rather than punitive, Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said from January to November 3 there were 424 reports brought to the CPU and for the same period last year, there were 488 reports.
Rodriguez said the formation of the unit contributed to the decreasing number of reports. She advised parents to monitor their children’s activity online adding that there is no breach of their privacy in doing so.
She warned that with the coming Christmas period parents should be careful of who their children associate with and who they consume food and drinks from as they may be drugged and violated.
The role and functions of CPU, which was initiated two years ago, is to investigate reports of sexual and physical abuse, abandonment/neglect and ill-treatment against children.