That animal who raped a girl from age 7 through 13

I met a young woman recently whose story unfortunately represents a tale of what is meted out to a high percentage of girls in this country up to this day, particularly in inner-city communities.

She had been sexually abused for six straight years – from she was age seven to when she turned 13 and could take it no more. She reported her ordeal to her school’s guidance counsellor, who alerted CISOCA, but before the soundrel, a minibus driver, could be collared, he was alerted by the child’s grandmother, with whom he lived and shared a sexual relationship. He has still not been held, but is out there somewhere, hopefully not making other girls’ lives miserable.

Now, the first question is: What could drive an adult male to want to have sex with a girl aged seven? And even if she got up to 13 and looked attractive, what could be the motivation? This is someone whose organs have not developed, let alone prepared for any kind of intercourse.

The other sad situation is that the grandmother who cared for the child, as her son, the child’s father, paid the minor no mind; would give the child a vulgar ‘tracing’ whenever she protested about her man’s unlawful activities. She would even apologise to the man at times and label the child a serpent.

The child’s mother, too, is another head case. She just got pregnant for the fashion of it, pushed out a child and left it at that.

The tough back fellow never used a condom during the horrid period of torture, the young women, now 20 told me. Luckily, she was not infected with any sexually transmitted disease.

How many other stories like that abound? Several. The problem is not only that the police do not always get to take the requisite action; the real challenge is how family members respond when such girls are wickedly attacked. They too should face the full force of the law when the gavel is employed.

National Honours & Awards arranged better this year

Maybe it was really the threat of rain that encouraged organisers of the annual National Honours and Awards ceremony to stage the event indoors at King’s House on National Heroes Day last Monday. But that should be the norm henceforth.

The structure this year saw the event running for one hour, 58 minutes and 42 seconds, counting from the time the Governor General began his inspection of the guard of honour to when the last award was presented. That would have shaved at least an hour off the usually long and drab ceremony that we have become accustomed to. It also meant that the people who were to be recognised and those who came out to support them would not have to face up to the heat of the usual morning sun that prevailed previously.

Critically though, the long walk to freedom, which characterised previous awards ceremonies, was cut significantly this year. Whoever came up with that bright idea deserves a national honour. It was good to see honorees line up in batches, and given their awards with little fuss and no time wasted. They did not have to trek for long, although some clearly needed the exercise, based upon their physique.

There is much to improve on, as far as the awards are concerned. I still believe that the no-brainer of segmenting the Order of Distinction must cease. Looking last Monday at recipients, I still do not accept that Aundre Franklyn deserved an award, Commander of the Order of Distinction at that, for his ‘contribution’ to the Electoral Advisory Commission. Seems to me that his ‘contribution’ is more divisive than anything.

Also, the OD picked up by Patrick Roberts could have gone to someone more deserving.

Senior police officers Clifford Blake and Selvyn Haye, who have virtually given their lives for this country, also deserved better.

A start has been made though, with the staging of the event indoor and the speedier processing of awardees. Let’s hope that rain will be around next year.

Give Desmond Haynes batting coach job

(Desmond Haynes)

Desmond Haynes should have been appointed head coach of the West Indies team. But he didn’t get the job, and although he would have been my first choice to succeed the out-of-place Floyd Reifer, the appointment, for a second time, of Phil Simmons is not a bad one.

But Haynes would have been better for the current group of West Indies cricketers. Had he been appointed, he would have been the only ‘legend’ on the coaching staff who would demand the respect of all the players.

If you look at the recent history of selecting West Indies coaches and assistants from the Caribbean, the process has been characterised by former players who never made it big while they represented the West Indies.

The team now needs someone who can stand up in a team meeting and say ‘this is the approach that I had to take when I faced Jeff Thomson, Dennis Lillee and Shane Warne and beat up their balls.’

In other words, there need to be someone who can reel off the great moments to the upcoming players. If you look around, that element of West Indies cricket is missing. Simmons may be a decent coach now, but he was a basic cricketer who has no glorious anecdotes to share with the players; so too Stuart Williams, an assistant coach and former West Indies opener; or Roddy Estwick, the former Barbados medium pacer, equipped with big belly and all these days. There are others.

When Cricket West Indies dumped fast bowling great Curtly Ambrose and replaced him with Estwick a few years ago, it was a telling blow. What could Estwick share with bowlers that Ambrose couldn’t? That one remains one of the mysteries of West Indies cricket.

Water in abundance, yet no water

(Water pipe)

I notice that in the last weeks there has been water lockoffs in sections of St Andrew North Western. You can bet that if you reach home anytime after 4:00 pm, there will be no water in the pipes.

The norm now is for water to pop up around 5 in the morning and by shortly after 1:00 pm, it is reduced to a trickle and if you are lucky it will remain until about 2:00. This is an area that never had such issues in past years.

Now, the National Water Commission will come up with all sorts of Anancy stories as to why no water is available when you need it. I am not interested in that anymore. Too much water from frequent rainfall is going to waste. There is a suggestion that the source is not the Hermitage Dam, nor the Mona Reservoir, but either from the Rio Cobre or the Plantation Heights system. Matters not to me.

The bottom line is if my elected representative in Parliament, who happens to be the Minister of Finance, cannot guarantee me a steady supply of potable water, then there is no chance in hell that he will even be considered for my vote by time the next general election comes around. And the situation cannot be rectified two weeks before the election; it has to be addressed now.

My vote may not not make a difference in the final outcome of the polls, but at least I would have made a statement.