‘Missing’ girl, 14, claims she ran away because she was being abused

Fourteen-year-old Erica Lall who reportedly went missing on Tuesday last from her East Coast Demerara home, has reportedly told police that she ran away because she was being abused by her mother.

Lall showed at the Cove and John Police Station on Saturday at about 16:00hrs with her 19-year-old friend Sharda James, Police Headquarters reported on Sunday.

The teen was staying with James at Moblissa, Soesdyke-Linden Highway.

She is now in the care of the officials at the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security’s Child Care and Protection Agency.

“The teen was interviewed by the police and stated that when she left her mother’s home on the East Coast, she went to James’ house on the Linden Highway, unknowing to her mother because she claimed that her mother would allegedly beat her,” police stated.

The teen told police that she got the direction to James’ house from a mutual Facebook friend.

The young girl said she indeed contacted her mother the night she ran away but they started arguing and so she decided not to answer her mother’s calls after that.

However, the mother had claimed that when her daughter called her, the teen told her to contact the police because she [the mother] might not see her again.

Following reports on social media that she was a possible victim of human trafficking, the teen decided to visit the Cove and John Police Station.