Principal says school followed ‘due process’ in reporting rape of 7-year-old
THE principal of Dunrobin Primary School, where five boys – one 11 and the others nine years old – allegedly sexually assaulted a seven-year-old girl, insisted that the school followed due process in informing the parents of the incident.
This followed reports that the mother of the girl was not told of the incident until 11 days after it had happened.
“When we heard, is when we called the police and we sent for the parents the same day,” principal Robert Gilles told the Observer.
At the same time, Gilles admitted that he could not remember the date that the school learnt of the incident, but said the school learnt about the incident some time after it had occurred.
The girl’s mother told the Observer that she heard of the incident on October 9, when the incident reportedly took place on September 28.
But Gilles said the school was not guilty of a cover-up, and refused to comment further on the grounds that the matter was before the courts.
The matter came before the Family Court on October 13, and will be mentioned again on November 17. In the interim, the boys have been remanded to boys’ homes across the island.
The Child Care and Protection Act makes reporting an assault of any kind mandatory.
“If a person suspects that a child is being or is likely to be abandoned, neglected, physically or sexually ill-treated, or is otherwise in need of protection, he or she is obligated to report it to the Children’s Registry,” Section six of the Act states.
“The maximum penalty for failing to report is a $500,000 fine, or six months imprisonment, or both,” the Act says.
Inspector Dutress Foster-Gardner of the Center for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse, any person who knew of the offence in this case can be charged under the Act.
“If there is evidence to say that the principal knew about it and didn’t report it, we can serve him a summons,” she said. “It is their duty to report it; it is mandatory.”