Ministry of Human Development intervenes on the Garbutt’s case of abuse

Minister of Human Development, Thea Garcia Ramirez, is tonight responding to concerns arising from the widely circulated case involving Police Constable Phillip Garbutt, whose alleged assault of a minor inside a private residence was captured on video.  Speaking on the matter, Garcia Ramirez acknowledged that there was reportedly an oversight during proceedings in the Magistrate’s Court, particularly involving the absence of a social worker and the arresting officer, both of whom should have been present in keeping with established child protection protocols.  The Minister stressed that while the lapse is being reviewed, the priority remains the safety and welfare of the eight-year-old child at the center of the case.  She noted that the ministry has already taken steps to ensure the protection of the child, including the issuance of a protection order.

Thea Garcia Ramirez, Minister of Human Development and Gender Affairs: “It’s a great oversight if you will because what happened was outside of the protocol. They weren’t there to do anything but get disclosure on the case. The child was there because he was part of the case. The oversight and what happened outside of protocol is that they were allowed to, well the mother was allowed to drop the charges and what didn’t happen was, my understanding is that there was an oversight, a grave oversight by the magistrate who did not really verify what were the charges, all the charges because there was one obviously for the mother and there was a separate charge for what happened to the child. The magistrate in this instance did not follow the protocol that has been established for these types of cases. And I believe erroneously dismissed the case and the arresting officer wasn’t there. The social worker wasn’t there to be able to say, wait, hold on that’s not what we’re here for and there are other things that you need to consider before you dismiss the charges. And it was a grave oversight. Why it happened, I cannot tell you, I wasn’t there. But that was what happened. And what should have happened was, if that was what the mother wanted to do at that point, what should have happened then is the magistrate should have stopped it, should have called the arresting officer, the prosecutor should have called in the social worker and should have asked then for a social inquiry report what we call a “SIR report” and that did not happen. Why didn’t happen? Why this travesty happened? I can’t say you would need to speak to the magistrate that was there. I want to say it’s an oversight. It was an error. We are all human. These things do happen from time to time. They shouldn’t. And that’s why we have established a protocol but I want to focus on what we are doing from the ministry, from the department. What we are doing is tomorrow we go back in and ask for a supervision order that will allow social workers and case workers from the Department of Human Services to access the child and the home to verify from time to time without any advance notice they can pop in and verify the physical and emotional integrity of the child. So that’s a supervisory order. We’re also going to ask for a protection order on behalf of the child and that means that the stepfather will not be able to have any access to the home or anywhere, or the school or anywhere the child normally is. A lot of people on social media as well sometimes, you know, when you’re in the vehicle you tend to scroll, are asking why a protection order was not done before. It wasn’t done because according to our investigation and according to what we know from the social workers, the stepfather after the incident removed himself and left the house.”

Minister Garcia Ramirez noted that the Ministry is working closely with relevant authorities to ensure that proper procedures are followed going forward and that the child continues to receive the necessary care and intervention.  She also addressed the difficult decisions that social workers are sometimes required to make in cases involving abuse, including the removal of children from their homes.

Thea Garcia Ramirez, Minister of Human Development and Gender Affairs: “I think that there are many things that go wrong a lot of times. One of the things we don’t like to do is to take children away from their homes. By all accounts, the child, as you can see loves his mom very much, willing to stand up to anyone to defend his mother, to defend a person that he loves. We don’t think or the social workers and caseworkers do not think at this time that any benefit can come from removing the child from this home. He’s very attached to his siblings. He is very attached to his mom and once there is no danger and threat to him from inside that home we think the best thing is to leave him in that family setting. He is now receiving already psychological support and therapy because obviously we do not believe that this is the first time that this incident occurred and so we’re working with the family, working with the mom and working with the child in order for him to reestablish himself and to ensure that he heals. So that is where we’re at right now.”