kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
As more victims of abuse at children’s homes mentioned in the 1997 Robert Sabga Report come forward to share their stories with the T&T Police Service (TTPS), it will establish another hotline.
TTPS Public Information Officer ASP Sheridon Hill told Guardian Media yesterday that ACP Sharon Gomez-Cooper had confirmed that the Criminal Division will announce a cellphone number for victims and informants to contact.
It comes just days after the TTPS launched its 627-2358 number to the public.
Hill could not say how many calls the hotline had received up to yesterday, as the division still has to compile a report. However, he said an investigation into alleged physical and sexual abuse in the alarming report is underway.
“A team has been appointed by the Commissioner of Police, headed by acting Superintendent Claire Guy-Alleyne, head of the Special Victims Department. A hotline has been established. We are going to put out a cellphone number in addition to the hotline number, and persons are coming forward and making reports. We also have a copy of the (Sabga) report in our possession,” Hill said.
A senior police officer added that when the division compiles the report, it will submit it to the Special Victims Department. Investigators will then begin contacting the callers as they pursue the matters vigorously.
While victims and informants can go to any police station, the TTPS prefers they use the dedicated number.
Hill said the TTPS welcomes any information the public provides to assist in the investigation.
The 1997 Sabga report, commissioned by the United National Congress government, contains explicit discoveries at 10 children’s homes.
The St Jude’s Home for Girls was listed as the worst, as the investigative team learned of a corridor leading to the music room where staff whipped children with curtain wires, belts, slippers and aluminium strips.
The report also stated that a supervisor once stripped a girl and beat her in the corridor. The supervisor then shoved her head in a bucket of water. Caretakers also withheld food from children as a form of punishment.