POLICE ARE searching for an 11-year-old-girl who was reportedly taken by her father from a ward at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) last Thursday.
According to reports, the 11-year-old was taken from the hospital one day before she was scheduled to be handed over to Child Development Agency (CDA) officials and before a court date at the Family Court.
The police said children's services and the Police Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse were called in after hospital officials realised the girl was pregnant. Based on comments from persons close to the child, it was speculated that the 11-year-old had been molested.
Speaking with The Gleaner yesterday, Inspector Duetress Foster-Gardener, the officer in charge of the police investigation of sexual offences unit, said the police made two visits to take statements from the girl while she was in hospital but could not do so because "they had no free access to the child who was very traumatised." She said the police were having difficulty finding the child or her parents.
"We are appealing to the father to return the child to the hospital because she was not properly discharged," Inspector Foster-Gardener said.
Up to press time, CEO at UHWI, Stephanie Reid, had not responded to messages left by The Gleaner and representatives of UHWI's social work department and the Family Court declined to comment on what they said was now a police matter.
