For the last 4 years, authorities in the twin-island nation have received more than 6,000 reports of child sex abuse cases.
She curled her tiny body into a ball to fit inside the kitchen cupboard. It was dark and musty. Her four siblings were in the cupboard with her.
Cheryl was five years old. Hiding away from imaginary monsters or playing “hide and seek” was normal. But they were not hiding from the bogeyman. Their mother had stuffed them in the cupboard like sardines because she was headed out for another session of partying and drinking.
One day when they were left in the cupboard, it happened. “My mom used to have different men who would come into the home and interfere with… you know,” Chery said, her voice trailing off.
For two years, Cheryl endured sexual molestation from her mother’s male friends. “At one time when one of the guys came and you know, I started crying and he said to her, ‘Make your child stop crying,’ ” Cheryl said.
“There was no love” for her children, she said.
When the Caribbean Investigative Journalism Network asked Cheryl if her siblings endured abuse, she said she could only speak for herself.
At seven years old, Cheryl and her siblings were sent to St Mary’s Children’s Home. They were now under the protective custody of the state.
St. Mary’s is a home for children in need of care and protection.
“Even living in the home (St Mary’s), you would see parents come to look for their children and some even hug their children,” Cheryl said.“The children might call them mommy or mom, but it was never like that with us. It was always a distance, never a connection.”
Cheryl is now a grown woman. She declined to give her age but volunteered that she had no children. She agreed to meet a Caribbean Investigative Journalism Network reporter for an interview at a shopping mall in Central Trinidad. As Cheryl spoke, a music truck drove by blasting Celine Dion’s “Goodbye,” which professes a mother’s love for her child.
Sexual abuse accounts for the second most abuse cases of children –only behind child neglect– in Trinidad and Tobago, representing 16.4% of all child abuse cases, according to the Children’s Authority. For the last 4 years, the authority has received more than 6,000 reports of child sex abuse cases.
Child Sex Abuse is the 2nd most reported form of child abuse, and most abuse happens in the home in T&T. Charts courtesy: The Children’s Authority
The Children’s Authority was established in 2015 to help care for, protect, and rehabilitate vulnerable children who are at risk or have been victims of abuse or neglect.
In its written response to the Media Institute of the Caribbean (MIC), the authority shared that most children are sexually abused by their primary caregiver, 17.3%, and by other family members, 18%, representing 35% of children who are sexually abused in their homes.
It is unclear how many of these cases lead to prosecution.
Most cases that lead to charges do not lead to convictions. Charts courtesy: the TTPS and The Judiciary
Assistant Superintendent of Police Anil Seecharan, who heads the Special Victims Department of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, said shame, threats, and fear of the accused might cause victims to abandon their cases.
He said the police service lacks manpower and basic technology to record victim’s statements, which can delay the legal process significantly.
A Survey of Sexual Assault in the Caribbean
Trinidad and Tobago’s experience with sexual assault is experienced across the region. Jamaica has the 2nd highest rate of femicide in the world at 9.3 per 100,000, according to a 2022 report by the World Population Review. Jamaica recorded 24 rapes per 100,000 citizens, ranking 22nd in the world.
Trinidad & Tobago, Saint Lucia, and the British Virgin Islands are also in the top 10 countries with the highest femicide rates.
“Patriarchal beliefs, power, and control continue to create a social environment in which sexual violence, and rape, are pervasive and normalized,” said Annan Boodram, a Trinidad writer who has written extensively about sexual abuse in the Caribbean.
A recent headline in the Jamaica Observer read: “Raped more than 2000 times as a child.” The article involved a survivor who shared how she was continuously raped by three of her uncles as she slept in her grandmother’s bed.
“My grandmother was sleeping in the same bed with me, and my uncle came into the bed and raped me right there by my grandmother,” she said. “It happened, and it kept happening over and over, night after night. My grandmother never said anything. She never did anything.”
The survivor who was raped over 2000 times did not get any help from her family. Her disclosure of the sexual violence to one of her uncle’s girlfriends led to her being ostracised. She said she believes this was done out of fear, as her uncles wielded much power in the community.
Victims in Jamaica can have their cases resolved in about two years. Victims in Trinidad and Tobago must wait approximately 5 to 10 years before their cases can be heard.
Gender and child affairs activist Marcus Kissoon said many men believe that they have the right to control women’s bodies, leading to a cycle of sexual abuse. Working with the University of the West Indies in St. Augustine, he helped to launch a campaign, “Break the Silence: End Child Sex Abuse TT,” to raise awareness of the prevalence of child sex abuse.
A report by the United Nations said on average, at least 1 in 3 women is beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused by her intimate partner during her lifetime”.
The report stated that in nine Caribbean countries, 48% of adolescent girls’ sexual initiation was ‘forced’ or ‘somewhat forced.”
The Problem
Director of the Rape Crisis Society of Trinidad & Tobago (RCSTT) Marian Taylor says some cases show that some women are failing to protect children from sexual abuse.
She shared two incidents where she accompanied two minors to the police station to make their reports of being sexually abused. Taylor said in the first incident, the mother came, looked the child up and down and the child immediately changed her story. In the second incident, the mother calmly stated that she was a victim of sexual abuse and she survived, therefore her daughter will survive as well.
She said some parents sometimes do not believe their children and would say things like, “the child look for that,” meaning it was the child’s fault.
What Governments Have Done
What Needs to be Done
Three years ago, the state ordered an investigation into abuse at Children’s Homes headed by Justice Judith Jones. The committee was set up to investigate and make recommendations for homes run by private operators or the state. The investigation detailed sexual, physical, and psychological abuse faced by many children in homes across the country.
It said, “The childcare system is poorly structured, inadequately monitored, and inconsistently regulated. Several recommendations were made to address the issue in the report.
The report: Safeguarding Children in Community Residences and Child Support Centres in Trinidad and Tobago cited: “Trinidad and Tobago’s state of development cannot be measured on economic indicators only.”
“ One such indicator must be society’s ability to protect vulnerable citizens….especially those children who do not have a fit or able parent or guardian to care for them,” the Judith Jones report stated. “No violence against children is justifiable; children should never receive less protection than adults; all violence against children is preventable.”