Erica James-King, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
THE SUSPECT who is in the custody of the St. James police, in connection with the serial sexual assaults on primary school girls, is to face an Identification Parade today.
Seeking to set the record straight on that case, St. James Crime Chief Deputy Superin-tendent Derrick Knight says the police are still not able to say conclusively if the man who they have in custody is indeed the serial rapist, but today's ID parade should greatly assist the probe into the matter.
The man, who the police have in custody for over two weeks, is believed to be mentally challenged.
"We have held three ID parades and only three persons came on those parades and he was not positively identified," said DSP Knight yesterday.
Over the last eight days, the case ran into a major hurdle, as some of the 15 children who were carnally abused by the serial 'rapist', have been so badly traumatised by their ordeal, that their parents were reluctant to allow them to participate in the identification parades.
But, despite the setback, the crime boss is confident that they will soon make progress in the case. The police are also awaiting the results of DNA on the suspect and the victims.
The DNA tests were done two weeks ago and sent to the lab, but the forensic department has requested additional tests and this was done on some of the victims and also sent into Kingston.
"We are waiting on the results," DSP Knight told The Gleaner.
The affected children range from six to nine years of age. The police have sought the assistance of the St. James Victims Support Unit and the police chaplain for the parish to offer counselling to the victims.
