The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A 15-year-old girl who went missing three weeks ago was taken into custody last Saturday before going missing again on Sunday night after the police released her to people “unrelated to her,” the girl’s father claimed yesterday.

The distraught father told The Big T yesterday that it is unbelievable that officers released his daughter to people who “couldn’t provide documents” proving she belonged in their care. “They release a minor into the care of persons who her real guardians and the police don’t even know.”

Adeisha Francis, 15, was reported missing a month ago after she allegedly stole her brother’s car and ran away. Wanted by police in connection with that robbery she was arrested last Saturday after she was caught stealing from a store near Lincoln Boulevard, off Wulff Road.

Her father, Anthony Francis, said he learned about the arrest on Facebook that day. It sparked a frantic weekend round of visits to three police stations in Nassau in a desperate effort to find her and stop her running away again amid confusion.

“I went to the Quacko Police Station that same Saturday to report that the teenager they have locked up is my daughter,” he said, adding that officers told him the girl was not at their station.

“The officers assisted me by calling around to find out if any teenage girls was at any of the other police stations. I called back that Saturday night but they said they didn’t have any new information. But when I called the next morning they told me to go to the Wulff Road Police Station and to carry identification for my daughter because one of the girls being held at that station might be my daughter using an alias.”

“When I went to the Wulff Road Police Station they said they arrested some girls but that the girls were at Central Police Station being processed. They told me to take the identification information and go to Central Police Station, which I did, along with a relative. When I went there and presented the identification information to the police, they said that’s her but not the name she gave them.”

Mr Francis said he explained to the police that his daughter was using an alias to hide her true identity and the fact that she was wanted at the Carmichael Road Police Station, where her relatives made the initial report that she had gone missing after stealing her brother’s car.

He said: “So they then went and did some checks and eventually made a note on her record that she gave false information about herself. They then confirmed that she couldn’t be released because she had a matter pending by the Carmichael Road Police Station and she was being held for the Wulff Road Police Station.”

“I then left Central Police Station and went back to the Wulff Road Police Station to let the officers know that Central has the info about her real identity and the fact that she is wanted. The officers at Wulff Road then promised us that they won’t release her since she has matters pending at Carmichael Road Police Station. They said they would call us when they interviewed her. They said to check back in another two hours or so.

“We checked back multiple times but after telling us each time that they aren’t ready yet, they told us to wait until Monday. We went to the station on Monday. The officer told us she was released. They released her to people who didn’t present proper identification proving she belonged in their care.”

Superintendent Cunningham, officer in charge of the Wulff Road Police station, told The Big T yesterday that before the girl was released last Sunday night officers did not know she was “wanted.”

Though he said she was released to “guardians” he could not say who those “senior relatives” were. He said the girl was released on “matters pending” and could easily be found, adding that she would be in police custody by yesterday evening.

He said the girl’s father would know by yesterday evening that the girl had been returned to police custody. However, by press time last night, Mr Francis said he had received no update on his daughter’s whereabouts. In addition no information from the police on the girl’s whereabouts were provided before The Big T deadline passed.