Attorney for Atlantis Leadership Academy accuses CPFSA of failing to follow due process in abuse investigation

The Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) is being accused of failing to follow due process in the wake of the removal of eight American teenagers from the Atlantis Leadership Academy in St Elizabeth.

The CPFSA said the teenage boys were removed from the academy following a welfare check on February 8 in which signs of abuse and neglect were observed.

However, in a written statement to the CPFSA, Dirk Harrison, the attorney for the academy and its founder Randall Cook, said the comment by the agency's head that there was evidence of abuse at the academy "amounts to a premature conclusion before the finalisation of the investigative process."

"We must caution the CPFSA that only a court, at the appropriate time, can make such a pronouncement," he continued.

Harrison said that seven weeks after the coordinated visit to the academy by the CPFSA and its international partners, the  authorities have not seen it fit to extend to either Atlantis Leadership Academy or Cook the courtesy of taking their response to these "very serious and disturbing allegations". 

"Instead, the CPFSA has been giving interviews in an apparent attempt to inflame both the local and international media to look in one direction only, instead of being cautious, circumspect and balanced at this preliminary stage, as is required of a responsible public agency," Harrison said.

Outlining the chronology of events relating to the boys' removal, Harrison said it was Cooke who had to make enquiries regarding the particulars of the complaint and contact details for the officers who removed the teenagers.

He said "no contact has been made with either Atlantis Leadership Academy or Mr Cook, but we observe that public comments, laced with innuendos have been made which are both premature, inflammatory, inappropriate and against the principles of due process."

He added that given the public utterances of the CPFSA, justice would best be served by the referral of the completed case file to the appropriate prosecutorial authority if the CPFSA's findings warrant that outcome.

Harrison said Cook is eager to clear his name and that of his institution, but this can only be achieved by the adherence to due process, including allowing Atlantis Leadership Academy and Cook the opportunity to provide their side of the story.

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