No word from police on rape case

BBN Staff: Nearly a month after two women claimed they were raped by three officers at the Independence police station in Stann Creek, the police have remained mostly silent about the case, offering very little information regarding the case and ignoring questions about the status of the investigation, while the accused officers remain on active duty.

Police Commissioner, Allen Whylie assured the media this week that an investigation is ongoing and said that when the investigator is satisfied, the file will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for advice on how to act. The file, however, has already been sent to the DPP.

Whylie also disagreed with the notion that the case is being handled differently because it involves police officers. The Commissioner pointed to the arrests of numerous officers in recent times as evidence there was no ‘”fraternity” protecting the accused officers.

Notably, police have refused to answer questions regarding an allegation that surveillance footage from that night at the Independence police station showing what happened, has gone missing or been deleted. This question has been posed to police several times over the last two weeks and police have either ignored it or have explicitly refused to answer the question without reason.

The women claim they were taken from off a bus they were traveling in and taken to the police station because the officers asked them to provide documentation, but  the Salvadoran woman could not immediately provide hers. One woman claims to have been raped by two officers inside the station while the other claims she was taken outside and raped near a step.

Several organizations had condemned the police department for the handling of this case but the calls of condemnation seemed to have subsided and the case appears to be going nowhere.

 

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