BY CAROL MATROO

Although a sexual predator was arrested to be charged with the rape of an 11-year-old girl attending a prestigious private primary school in west Trinidad, parents of other students attending the institution are still in the dark about the incident.

One concerned parent, who was aware of the rape, said the school had been trying to keep the sordid act under wraps.

Speaking to the Guardian on condition of anonymity due to fear of retribution against her daughter, the mother said the man, who was a security guard at the school, raped the girl when she stayed back late one day.

She said even though teachers at the school became aware of the incident, they took no immediate action.

Instead, they decided to wait and “catch him in the act,” the concerned mother said.

Last Wednesday, the principal and other teachers carried out their own “sting operation” as they kept the girl back in school while the other children went home.

“They waited outside the school and after a while, they went back in and caught the guard in the act of raping the girl,” the angry mother said.

“And the amazing thing is that they let the man just leave the compound.”

She said when the police were informed about the incident, they advised the principal that when the man came back for his salary, to keep him there until they could pick him up.

However, when the man did return to the school, although they tried to delay him, he took his money and left.

The police, acting on information, arrested the 41-year-old man in Port-of-Spain, yesterday morning.

But, before he could be taken in front of a magistrate, the man told the police he was not feeling well.

He was taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital and was warded up to late yesterday evening.

However, the incensed mother said it was “too little, too late” and felt officials at the school should have acted more responsibly before waiting for the man to repeat the act.

“Up to now, they still haven’t told parents what took place. All they did was send out a circular saying the man was no longer working for them and they had a replacement.

“They haven’t called in the parents or said anything,” she said.

“We don’t know if the man did the same thing to any of the other children...They are not telling us anything.”

The irate mother also said she was unable to get any assistance from the Education Ministry.

“I tried to get through to a school supervisor on Wednesday and a clerk there said there were no supervisors there that day and to call back tomorrow,” she said.