Expat Teacher Charged With Child Sexual Assault

Doha, Qatar, 12th December 2014: – Expatriate substitute teacher Richard Kayne Gerrand, a New Zealand citizen, had been detained and charged with sexual assault against a minor and is currently in custody awaiting trial.

Mr Gerrand is believed to have been living in Doha for a number of years involved in the education system and even working in a few select schools. Mr Gerrand has previously worked as a substitute teacher at Qatar Aacdemy (QA) and the International School of London (Qatar Campus). It is not known at this time whether he is officially sponsored by any of these schools or whether he was working illegally, without an official work visa.

Child sexual abuse is heavily frowned upon in the GCC. According to a study done in 2013, reported by Doha News they state “Data for sexual abuse in the home, however, remains incomplete. The report states that drivers were responsible for 42.1 percent of sexual abuse cases, and male domestic helpers 21.1 percent, but it fails to account for the remaining 36.8 percent”.

The report learned that on the whole, sexual abuse was rare, comprising merely 0.93 percent of abuses. The report claims that sexual abuse represents 8.7 % of the overall abuse towards children in schools, “mostly” perpetrated by other pupils, but does not get into further details.

Health authorities in Qatar stated as a result of this report that child abuse is seriously underreported within Qatar, as a result of bureaucratic obstacles, inadequately skilled healthcare services and an unwillingness to challenge cultural taboos. However the quantity of documented instances continues to be expanding. In 2011, as an example, the Qatar Foundation for Protection of Women and Children (QFPWC) had to deal with 769 instances of abuse, as compared to 995 in the first nine months of 2012 alone. Some 44.7 percent of abuse cases recorded in 2012 had been against children. Useful url : http://dohanews.co/report-one-in-five-children-in-qatar-subject-to-abuse/

Media Contact:

Spokesperson Name: – Abdullah Rahman

AFP Media

Al Mansoura

Doha, Qatar

Phone: 44451845

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