The widespread condemnation that followed the public’s learning of the gruesome death of 16- year- old Neesa Gopaul is justified. The tale of the young girl’s life is too disturbing; and her death, even more so. Indeed, the young girl could have been saved had the police and the Childcare and Protection Agency done their jobs, and other stakeholders, including school officials and villagers, done their part to protect her. Neesa’s death resulted from a systemic failure to protect her.
It is very disturbing that the girl, in the latter part of her life, was drugged and sexually abused, and although people knew of this, they failed to help her.
Her death, therefore, was simply the culmination of a series of sadistic events that plagued her life.
The only consolation in this entire ordeal is the outrage that followed when Neesa’s death and its circumstances became public. We were glad to see the outrage by Human Services Minister Priya Manickchand and members of the Cabinet. It is now for all the powers that be to channel this outrage into something that would change the situation for other children in similar situations. The authorities may start by overhauling the entire operations of the Childcare and Protection Agency, the organisation that failed the teen. It is totally unacceptable that the agency knew about Neesa’s circumstances and still failed to protect her. In addition to overhauling the agency, we firmly support the dismissal of workers who failed to act in the interest of the girl. They are unfit to dispense their duties.
Secondly, members of the police continue to operate as if they are new on the job, and the Leonora Police Station, particularly, has once again reminded the public why it has such a negative image. Members of the police force lack sensitivity and concern for members of the public. That is why they could not act seriously on initial reports made about Neesa’s situation.
Effective policing starts with an understanding of the public policemen and women serve. Having a genuine concern for people is a prerequisite to good policing.
We call upon the government, through its Home Affairs Ministry, to train police officers to respond more sensitively to the public, especially to matters affecting minors.
Notwithstanding the above, the police should not get off so easily. An investigation must be launched to identify the officers who failed this young girl. Names need to be known; and, like the child welfare workers, police officers who failed this young girl need to be disciplined, if not dismissed. For too long, we have approached many of these failures too flimsily, and usually, the people who failed to do their jobs get off the hook. Such an approach to serious matters is why these unfortunate situations keep occurring.
The events leading up to Neesa’s death and the systemic failure to protect her mean that, forthwith, it cannot be business as usual. And if it is not going to be business as usual, then mechanisms must be instituted to ensure a non- recurrence of a situation such as this, and that includes educating school officials and community members how to respond to situations like Neesa’s. The bottom line is that the entire community must be structured in such a way that, when one mechanism fails, others kick in to protect a child or young person.
Young Neesa Gopaul had suffered a lot in her life, up until her death. And we should not let her death go in vain. Her death should enable that broken system to get fixed, so that no other child is made to face this or similar situation.
