Many children with disabilities (CWDs) are being sexually and physically abused by persons inside the special education facilities that they attend, according to the Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA).
The Gleaner has learnt, through CISOCA, that young girls under the age of 16 appear to be particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse by predators, and some children have even been buggered inside these facilities.
The level of abuse that is meted out to CWDs is usually lost in the overall statistics that are normally presented by the police and child-services agencies. This in a country where the sexual and physical abuse of children is generally rampant, with thousands of such cases being reported annually.
Despite this challenge, The Gleaner was able to get a synopsis of the problem, having obtained limited figures from CISOCA, while trying to ascertain the extent to which CWDs are abused in Jamaica.
According to CISOCA, the information which it provided was available only for the Corporate Area of Kingston and St Andrew.
“This information was collated using schools for children with disabilities in the Corporate Area,” CISOCA said in its written responses to questions posed by The Gleaner.
The figures show that for the period January 2017 to June 24, 2019, a total of 22 incidents of crime were committed against CWDs. CISOCA did not state the nature of these crimes but said that six of them had been cleared up.
For the period January to December 2017, five incidents of crime (against CWDs) were recorded,” said CISOCA. These crimes included one case of rape, two cases of sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16, where one was cleared up; one case of grievous sexual assault; and one incident of buggery, which was also cleared up.
CISOCA also told The Gleaner that for the period January to December 2018, ten incidents of crimes committed against CWDs were recorded. These included six incidents where sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16 occurred, with one being cleared up; two incidents of rape; one case of indecent assault; and one case of gross indecency which was cleared up.
Since the start of the year and up to June 24, seven incidents of crime were committed against CWDs, including two cases of rape, two cases of grievous sexual assault, one case of buggery, one case of sexual touching, and one incident of indecent assault. CISOCA said one incident of rape and one incident of buggery were cleared up during the period.
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