Loading ...St Lucia’s obvious need for a proper juvenile facility for young offenders has yet again resurfaced, now that a 13-year-old old girl is being held behind bars at one of the island’s police stations after being charged for murder.
Minister responsible for Security, Guy Mayers, in a recent interview with the STAR agreed that there is dire need for such a facility and recognized that the government, whether it be the past or present administration, had fallen short of providing one.
Internal Security Minister Guy Mayers says there needs to be a proper place to put both male and female young offenders.
There are also no facilities at the prison to house juveniles, particularly girls. The Upton Gardens Girls Center is hardly an option. The institution, which opened its doors in February 1979, with the hope of providing a safe home for young women, is yet to progress to providing 24 hour care for juveniles. After 26 years, the center still remains merely a day time care rehabilitation center.
New Beginnings, a transit home for children is expected to officially open soon but the transit home will only cater to 21 children, who are “not in trouble with the law.”
So currently, this 13-year-old girl from Ciceron is being housed in a jail cell in the south. The State therefore is now faced with a situation where it bares responsibility for the young girl accused of murder, but has no appropriate place to put her. The 13-year-old girl found herself in this predicament after being arrested and charged, along with a 19-year-old girl, for allegedly stabbing 20 year-old Kivana King several times in the back.
The incident reportedly took place during a social activity at about 2am at a bar in Ciceron on June 13, 2009.
According to police reports, the two women appeared before the Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday June 17, and were charged with murder.
The older accused was remanded in custody at the Bordelais Correctional Facility. Two attorneys consulted on the matter indicated that the State has an “excuse” for where they house the accused. However one stated there could be a human rights issue within her case.
National Representative of the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research (CAFRA) in St Lucia, Flavia Cherry concurred.
“There is a serious human rights violation involved because it is quite clear when you have juvenile offenders of that age, there must be a juvenile facility or some place where they can be kept safely, away from the normal prison situation,”
she said.
Cherry added that the State has clearly failed the young accused because despite the fact that her case was well known to the relevant authorities, there was never a real attempt to move her from the situation, “as any rightful agency would do.”
“The Director of Human Services herself admitted publicly in a television interview that they had failed this young lady,” Cherry said adding, “What is even the point of a Human Services Department that does not have the necessary mechanisms and tools to facilitate proper intervention, because proper intervention would not be: a report is given, you know that the child is in a particular situation, just talk to the child and there’s nothing you can do, because without a place of safety to put children who are vulnerable, without the correct amount of counseling, obviously these kids will continue to fall through the cracks and that is why, in this country we are seeing such a large number of juvenile offenders.”
According to Cherry, the State continues to fail when it comes to children’s protection. “I think these circumstances really help to expose the official neglect and abuse of children that has gone on for a very long time and which I dare say is responsible for the crime situation,” Cherry said.
She added that there are even children as young as five who were desperately in need of a place of safety, but are usually sent right back to the place their problem stems from.
Cherry said young offenders are even more at risk at the police stations since the police themselves cannot be trusted. “We know that young boys have been buggered and treated in the worst of ways when they were left at the police station,” she said.
She concluded by calling for a girl’s juvenile detention center.
“We are seeing an increasing number of girls becoming involved in gang and crime activity. What are you going to do? Just continue to leave them in a police station and leave them at risk?” she asked.
Efforts to reach Director of Human Services Clementia Eugene, both by telephone and several visits proved futile.
However Minister Responsible for National Security, Guy Mayers expressed concern over the situation stating that government recognized that this was a major problem and there is need for such a facility. “We need a facility not only for girls, but for boys as well,” Mayers said expressing concern over the young offenders who are among those who merely need care and protection, in the facilities available.
Mayers said that the government is collaborating with all other relevant authorities to come up with a solution.
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Simple just ask for funding from other countries.
Andy, that is what i have been saying along, funding aid have dried up. Who can we ask for aid now? I explained that before, aid was very easy to come by in the days of John Compton, due to the cold war. He should have taken full advantage of that to develop St Lucia and now we would not have all the problems we have today. We must be very great full for the previous government for all the development they accomplished in 9 years.
Most of the problems in Saint Lucia if not all stems from a social angle and must be targeted point blank at that angle otherwise we will be going in circles.
“the State continues to fail when it comes to children’s protection”,this is a correct statement only when it directly concerns neglected kids or those who have suffered abuses in any way,but murder is a giant step and those responsible should give a second thought before engaging in such activities.A 13 year old girl in a bar at 2 am in the morning?????????????????????????????????????.
This is a sad case of lack of parental control. Why a 13 year old is allowed to be on the streets (at a bar) at 2:00 am. Did her parents know were she was? It is time we hold parent responsible for some of the actions of minors. St. Lucia like many Caribbean Islands is facing a parenting problem. I submit that if we address the parenting problems in the region, we stand a good chance of reversing some of the negatives affecting the region. I estimate, like in Jamaica, it will take about twenty years of sustained intervention for the problem to be addressed.
We need proper programmes and organizations, groups , sunday school, school etc need persons who do have the know how to understand or how to deal with our youths in saving their lives rather than locking them up. We tend to destroy them or even curse them instead of giving them to save ou a chance to perform or listen. Let us tryr youths. For further information please contact Youth department
Instead of Mrs Cherry being so critical towards the authorities, why can’t she show the true value of the organisation she represents by starting off a campaign to aquire funds ie. by charitable means to build the quarters so badly needed to house those vulnerable kids or better yet conduct some open forum with the many mothers that are part of her organisation, relating to the way to bring up their siblings including not allowing 13 yr. olds out of their sight at 2.00am so that they could go on a rampage of murder. Past and present governments are also to blame for this sorry state of affairs because if they were thinking straight it would not need rocket science to get these facilities. The next time the Japanese Government wants a vote on wailing issues at the U.N. instead of them building another fishing facility ask that they fund a young female facility to accomodate those vulnerable girls. The good samaritan nature shown by the Taiwanese Government could also be taped into granting us the funds to build such a facility for those young girls.
The parents of the accused should be charged for child endangerment. A 13 year old has no business being out at 2:00 am. St. Lucia toughen up your laws to protect our youth.
That’s a disgraced on the part of the parent but this child has been a troubled child, and i pity the mother, kids nowadays don’t listen. She probably told the mom that she was sleeping over at a friends house who knows.But we need proper facilities for youths, we overseas can try to help by having different activities to help fund this building, lets not let our youths down.
Anyone in England willing to help raise funds for such project am in, my contact is totone3055@hotmail.com or 01902442052, lets help our country and the youths for a better future.
The smirk look on Guy Myers’ face, what does it represent? Whats he doing about the crime situation in St. Lucia? I mean the man has lost his seat, lost his ballot and lost the few strands he had left on his head, what is he still doing combing the castries east constituency week after week? these projects are supposed to be handed to the castries east representative, philip j. pierre, not myers who was rejected at the poles by the constituents of castries east. crime is a growing and daunting issue on the island, why isn’t he spending time committing himself to solving the crime issues? i mean we are the ones paying him to be in office to WORK! instead he spends all the time in the constituency of castries east. this trick is so old! guy myers is so transparent that we could see right through him. he is doing these projects to win our votes. where was he all along? philip j pierre is our rep, we put him there to represent us - we rejected guy! philip pierre has been there with us at castries east for decades while myers lived in his big white house at rodney bay where you will NEVER invite the poor people of marchand - now you hungry for power so you want to use us in castries east? we will not fall for that. wheel and come back again and take off that stupid fake innocent half-smile on your face. GO FIGHT CRIME, OUR NATION IS DYING!!!
What is a 13 yr old girl doing out at a bar at 2:00 AM? Drinking. That’s the only conclusion i can come up with. Alot of nonesense going on in our once peaceful island. Where are the parents?? Then again, gone are the days when a neighbour could descipline another’s child.
Bring back SOME of the old-skool kind of parenting!