Dear Editor,
When will the community come together to protect our children who are forced to surrender to the grip of paedophiles? Since the answer to this inquiry seems a way off, I am forced to ask the same questions as I did back in 2013, which included the following: If St. Maarten were to conduct a survey to assess how many child molesters are roaming around casually in this community, what would those findings be? Would they be in the range that is anticipated, or far more alarming than expected?
It was not surprising to see another sickening and frightening article that appeared in The Daily Herald on Thursday, September 20 – one that highlighted a continued pattern of sexual abuse of minors. What has become a growing phenomenon is that children are being seduced by their own fathers. Previously, this type of incident was alleged to be heavily concentrated in a particular culture, but it has been proven to be just a myth.
Today, more and more minors are becoming victims of sexual abuse by their own fathers, from all socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Several of our children are not safe in their homes anymore. How sad! Can one imagine children going home from school to a place where they are confronted with the pressures of conducting sexual acts or being used as a symbol, just to satisfy the addiction of a sex maniac?
What pleasure can a 59-year-old man get from an innocent 6-year-old girl, who hasn’t even reach the stage of development where she can determine right from wrong? As time goes by, the ability to develop and nurture the quality to trust others will simply diminish because it was destroyed from the very inception. This experience has changed her whole perception of the world and people in general. How fair is this to her?
Then how do the 12- and 16-year-olds go on with their lives, when they too have been robbed of the joy of childhood? There is nothing in the world that can compensate them for this enormous tragedy. So, what do we do as a community? Do we just let this evil continue to destroy the children of this country? Personally, not enough is being done by the Court of Guardianship nor has any judge ever ruled in a manner that equates the magnitude of this horrific crime.
As a community, we need to rise up and put pressure on the Court of Guardianship and the judges to aggressively worked toward protecting our children from the revolting hands of these sexual predators!
Joslyn Morton
