Time to seriously consider long-term effects of abusive behaviour on children

By Linda Straker

Chairperson of the Grenada National Coalition on the Rights of the Child, Mrs. Ann Greaves, believes that there is need for policy and decision-makers to seriously consider the long-term implications of aggressive and abusive behaviour that is meted out to children.

“When we have a situation where so many children are abused in so many different forms here and so many of them are generally left to deal with it by themselves, we are raising a generation of so many angry, very angry young people who easily turn to violent behaviour to resolve conflict,” she said.

“With deep, emotional scars from sexual, physical, neglect and other forms of abuse and neither proper nor effective anger management guidance, children who are traumatised and not cared for will act up and the society will keep on asking the question, why,” she said.

Greaves made the comments in light of the fact that a teenager was recently charged with the murder of her schoolmate at the school’s compound last week. A magistrate last week remanded the 13-year-old to prison. 

Police investigators last week Friday morning charged the female student with murder in connection with the death of her schoolmate Alex Gabriel, resident of Perdmontemps, St. David. She was remanded to the island’s lone prison at Richmond Hill and is scheduled to reappear in court on November 5.

An autopsy report revealed 17-year-old Gabriel, who collapsed in the school’s corridor, succumbed to injuries sustained as a result of a stab wound to the neck. This is the island’s 15th murder for 2012. According to the police report, she died as a result of hypovolemic shock and laceration to the carotid artery and jugular vein.

Investigations have revealed that a man is presently serving a prison sentence for sexually molesting the young lady who committed the act. “The question is, was she properly treated following the abuse? The person going to jail is just part of the process, she has to deal with this for the rest of her life and if the right emotional and psychological support is not extended to her and her family, then we have to face the consequences,” she said.