7 men, 1 woman charged with sexual offences against children

Seven men and a woman have been arrested by police of the Child Protection Unit (CPU), the Special Operations Response Team and the Tobago Task Force for sexual offences against children.

They were expected to appear before magistrates in Central, Sangre Grande and Scarborough on Monday.

In a statement to the media, the police said the offences range from sexual penetration of a child, sexual touching of a child and having knowledge of sexual penetration of a child and failing to report it. The offences are contrary to the Children’s Act 46:01.

The arrests were made during an island-wide exercise led by Ag Supt George, Ag ASP Sookdeo and supervised by Ag Insps Boodoo and Baptiste and Sgt Morton of the CPU between Friday and Saturday.

They now bring to 28 the number of people charged under the Children’s Act for 2020.

The CPU said it wishes to remind citizens of its commitment to its mandate to protect the nation’s children, and take perpetrators of acts against children before the courts.

“The CPU strongly urges anyone with information on child abuse to report it to the nearest police station or to the CPU.”