HAITI: Two American missionaries face another night in jail as children wait to be reunited with their parents

Record ID: 243328

  • Title: HAITI: Two American missionaries face another night in jail as children wait to be reunited with their parents
  • Date: 3rd March 2010
  • Summary: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (MARCH 2, 2010) (REUTERS) OUTSIDE THE PROSECUTION OFFICE, U.S. MISSIONARIES' GROUP LEADER LAURA SILSBY COMING OUT CAMERAMEN (SOUNDBITE) (English) LAURA SILSBY, U.S. MISSIONARIES' GROUP LEADER, SAYING: ''We are waiting on the judge's decision.'' THE TWO MISSIONARIES ENTERING POLICE VAN PHOTOGRAPHER MISSIONARIES INSIDE VAN VAN DRIVING AWAY ON
  • Embargoed: 18th March 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Haiti
  • Country: Haiti
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVAAJQIGFC2PXLJN0WMO94WP66D6
  • Story Text: The leader of a group of U.S. missionaries and her assistant returned to jail on Tuesday (March 2) after spending a few hours in court for a cross-examination with witnesses from the Dominican Republic.
    The two missionaries said earlier they believed they would be released today but a source close to the prosecution office said they will be spending another night in jail.
    Mid-afternoon, the two were taken in a van and driven back to the police station where they have been detained.
    Coming out of the prosecution office, Laura Silsby, the group leader, said they were waiting for the judge's decision.
    The missionaries are charged of trying to take 33 Haitian children out of the country in the days following the January 12 earthquake.
    Ten Americans, most of whom are members of a Baptist church in Idaho, were arrested in January on charges that they tried to take 33 Haitian children out of the country to the Dominican Republic without proper documentation.
    Eight were released in February, but Laura Silsby, the group leader, and Coulter, her assistant, were held in detention for further questioning.
    Shortly after the two missionaries returned to the police station where they are jailed, representatives from the U.S. embassy arrived.
    Silsby and other members of the group of missionaries have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, saying they only wanted to help orphans left destitute by the quake.
    But they had no Haitian identity or exit papers for the children. Many had living parents who acknowledged turning the children over to the missionaries in the belief they would have better care in the hands of the Americans.
    As the two U.S. citizens wait to hear their fate, the 33 children are being taken care of in a village from nongovernmental organisation SOS children, pending a decision from Haiti welfare service who will decide if they should be reunited with their families.
    The village usually cares for 150 children but since the earthquake that number went up and today 500 children live and play there.
    Bernard is one of the children the U.S. missionaries wanted to take abroad.
    He says he enjoys life at the camp but would like to see his family.
    The children have mixed well with others, Line Wolf Nielsen from SOS Children said. But she is convinced they would be even better if reunited with their families.
    ''The children are doing fine and well. They are integrated with the SOS families here in our village and they have food, they have a place to stay, but obviously it's still better for them to be with their families when they have a family,'' Wolf Nielsen said.
    The children's families may need support, SOS Children said, and even if the children are reunited with their families, social workers will keep in touch.
    ''We will do our best to to make sure there is food, there is water, there is social workers who will follow up when the kids will be reunited with their families and I do stress when because that's really what we are hoping for,'' Wolf Nielsen said.
    The Americans were arrested on January 29, 17 days after the magnitude 7 earthquake that took what Haitian President Rene Preval now estimates to be around 300,000 lives.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register