The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A CONCERNED father of six was shocked by what he saw inside a police station at midnight on Wednesday – a toddler, sleeping in the station’s foyer, awaiting the arrival of her absent guardians.

Craig Forbes, 47, told The Tribune he went into the Grove Police Station to inquire about a friend when he saw the sleeping little girl, a student of Yellow Elder Primary School, wearing her physical education uniform.

The girl had been at the station since after 3pm that day when police found her on the school campus, waiting for her guardians.

Mr Forbes said he bought the girl “some Gatorade, soup and a hot pattie” from a nearby gas station after finding out that she had not eaten since she arrived at the police station.

According to an officer at the station, who said he had limited knowledge of the situation but that a guardian eventually came for the girl. The Tribune was told that police had struggled for hours to locate her guardians.

“They should appear before court,” said Mr Forbes about the girl’s parents. “I’m a father of six children. From 3pm, I would have been there looking for my child. But that right there, that’s neglect. That’s a child, that’s wrong. With all the paedophiles around in this day and time, it’s totally wrong to have this happen.”

Mr Forbes said he has a heightened awareness of community issues after members of his family experienced a brush with death.

“On Sunday, shots went through my children’s room on Peter Street,” Mr Forbes said, referring to an incident for which several suspects are now in police custody.

“The bullet barely missed my girlfriend’s head as we were watching the Miami Heat basketball game,” he said, adding that he still has the bullet he found in his house’s wall.

As for the toddler abandoned by her guardians, he said: “In this day and age, this shouldn’t be happening.”