Abrahams: No suicide attempt at GIS

‘Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams has sought to clear the air regarding the alleged attempted suicide of a female ward of the Government Industrial School (GIS) last Saturday.

He said on Tuesday that while one of the five wards at the Barrows, St Lucy facility claimed she had ingested toothpaste, when she was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) for medical attention her toxicology report came back negative.

Abrahams, who addressed the matter during a tour of the renovation project at GIS Dodds, St Philip, on Tuesday morning, said the ward later admitted to authorities that she did not “ingest anything”.

“People are putting things out there that have no basis in truth, no connection in truth, and then people are running, jumping on bandwagons trying to protect persons who may at that time not be in need of protecting,” the Home Affairs Minister said.

“It places the staff and those concerned with the school in an almost untenable position. So you have to mobilise all of the resources of the Government and the state to bring ambulances up to send wards down to the QEH to have them tested.

“The young lady is probably lucky she didn’t get her stomach pumped. And then to come back and say ‘actually no, I didn’t take nothing’. We are being chased and pilloried and crucified,” Abrahams added.

In an interview with Barbados TODAY, the child’s grandmother Marilyn Grant reported that she had received a call from an official at GIS, informing her that the minor had attempted suicide by ingesting a mixture of substances last Saturday. She also expressed concern that her granddaughter, who had made several suicide attempts in the past, and other female wards had planned to go that route again.

As a result of the latest incident, advocacy group Operation Safe Space (OSS) said it would be filing an urgent application in the High Court between Tuesday and Wednesday asking that the girl involved in the incident be rehoused at a facility more suitable to deal with her particular case.

However, Abrahams said on Tuesday: “We have to be careful what message we are sending. Right now our protocol is that if somebody displays suicidal ideation they go straight down to the Psychiatric Hospital…. We take you to the Psychiatric Hospital. At psychiatric hospitals you can get visits very quickly with your family, the restrictions are a lot less, you get ice cream.

“So we need to be careful what message we are sending. So people need to not let themselves be used by factions whose agenda may actually not be the interest, safety and security of the young ladies.”

Acting Vice Principal of the GIS Seileste Bradshaw confirmed that an incident recently occurred at the St Lucy location but said she was not at liberty to disclose the particulars.

“But you did ask the question ‘how they are getting hold of certain things?’. Once you are a ward at the school you are provided with normal toiletries, toothpaste, soap, so it’s everyday things that these children are using to do these things,” Bradshaw said.

“So what we have done is that we have taken the position where we are going to take those things away and they will have to come for them when they need to use them, because we have to protect these children and we have to protect ourselves as well. But that is the extent of what I can say about what occurred on Saturday,” Bradshaw added.

The GIS official said that as soon as a ward threatens to commit suicide, the institution is required to follow certain procedures and psychological support is provided.

“We do recognise that these children have some deep psychological issues, not of their own making at times, and we do not see them as the offender. We see them as victims in most of these cases and we give them all the help that we can to make sure that they become well-rounded so that they can return to society and function well,” Bradshaw said.

(anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb)