Even as law enforcement promises an investigation of one of their own, a distraught father is alleging police cover-up of a sexual offense against his underage daughter.
The head of the St Vincent and the Grenadines police force confirmed that he is in receipt of an arrest warrant for a member of the Royal Police Force of Antigua & Barbuda (RPFAB) facing allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor.
The alleged perpetrator reportedly fled to his homeland last Sunday.
Commissioner Renold Hadaway told OBSERVER media that the document, which outlined the alleged offences, had been issued by his counterpart in Antigua, Wendel Robinson.
However, the SVG police chief refused to list the crimes, and said that he preferred those details to come from the RPFAB.
“I have a document before me that I just received from the Antigua & Barbuda Commissioner and that’s all I’m willing to say,” he said.
According to Hadaway, this was the first time that the issue had been brought to the attention of the Vincentian law enforcement.
“We have not done anything in that regard to ascertaining whether he is in St Vincent, due to the fact that we just got the document,” he added.
Meantime, the Public Relations Officer of the RPFAB, Senior Sergeant Frankie Thomas, said investigators have also executed several search warrants at the home the officer would have occupied.
Thomas revealed that a fact-finding investigation has been launched into the allegations and several statements stating, the alleged crime have also been recorded and that the issue will be treated as any other offence.
“The police handles and deals with every situation on its merit and no one is above the law,” he said on the Voice of the People radio program.
The police spokesman said he was not pleased with how the matter is being discussed in public.
“This is a very sensitive issue for the family who has to hear the matter being played out in the public domain. I am asking that we give the police that level of confidence that we can do our work as we would have done in the past,” he said.
He said the public needs to allow the police to conduct their duties properly.
“We are too worked up and too agitated and not allowing the course of justice to take place. We have to be careful we don’t create a distraction of the law,” Thomas warned.
Usually, reliable police sources said that the officer in question had fled to his homeland after he was tipped-off that he was about to be investigated.
Source: AO
