Mother criticizes police for ‘traumatizing’ her daughter

Picture provided by Julene Soares

Picture provided by Julene Soares

A mother has criticized police authorities for forcing her 13-year-­old daughter to get in their van after the teenager failed to present her Macau Resident Identity Card (BIR) during an ID inspection.
Julene Goitia Soares, who is a Portuguese citizen and a local resident, said that her daughter was traumatized after being stuck in the van with several detainees. She argues that this was a case of police abuse.
According to Soares, her daughter started crying after the officers forced her to get in the van; despite the minor explaining to them that she is a Macau resident but did not have her BIR with her.
“She called my husband […] and while she was explaining, the police just grabbed her arms and just put her inside the police van,” she stressed.
Soares rushed to Praça de Ferreira do Amaral where the authorities were waiting for her, and explained that she holds the minor’s BIR as she was afraid that her daughter might misplace it.
“When I arrived, I just asked the police, who arrested my daughter? I just wanted to know names [but] no one answered me,” she said.
However the authorities have threatened her saying they will not entertain her if she keeps shouting at them.
“Of course I’m angry,” she told the Times. “I just received a call that my daughter is inside a police van, how could I react?”
When Soares asked them if they could leave, she claimed that one police stood at the door of the van, blocking her daughter to exit the vehicle.
“I asked them if someone can speak Portuguese. They said no. I told them if no one can speak Portuguese here, how can my daughter not be scared [when] no one explained what’s happening,” she said.
The mother stressed that her daughter is unable to speak Cantonese. She also revealed that the policemen started laughing at the minor after she started to cry.
Although the authorities told her there is “no problem” with what they did, she says that it was wrong for them to hold the minor in the van with several strangers.
“They didn’t even ask [for] her parents’ phone numbers,” she stressed. “They don’t care!”
Soares has filed a complaint to the police authorities and reportedly will have to wait 45 days for a response.
She revealed to the Times that she plans to legally file a case against them if she is not pleased with the authorities’ response.
“They need to apologize and they need to do something to the people [policemen],” she demanded. Lynzy Valles 

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