Haiti orphanage attacked by armed bandits, children sexually assaulted, manager says

Armed men broke into a Haitian orphanage, killing a guard and sexually assaulting two children, the manager of the home told the Miami Herald, the latest crime to stun the nation as authorities struggle to contain mounting violence.

More than 15 bandits broke into the group home in Croix-des-Bouquets, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, Sunday, shortly before 1 a.m., said the orphanage director, who asked that his identity be withheld, fearing for his safety. The men blocked the entrances to the orphanage and scaled a wire fence, using a carpet, to enter the yard.

“It was a well-prepared operation,” he said. “There was nothing I could do.”

A 15-year-old girl was raped, along with a 27-year-old servant, he said, and a 13-year-old child sexually assaulted. The bandits also attempted to rape his wife, who was beaten. The gunmen spent more than two hours ransacking the property, pulling open drawers and demanding money.

News of the invasion was first reported by Magik 9, the radio station owned by the country’s daily newspaper, Le Nouvelliste. Police did not immediately respond to a request for information. The director of Haiti’s child welfare agency said she has been in contact with the orphanage and offered assistance.

“We at the Institute of Social Well-Being and Research are very worried about this situation,” Arielle Jeanty Villedrouin said. “We are closely monitoring the situation to see the consequences this may have.”

Haiti is in the throes of a constitutional crisis as President Jovenel Moïse clings to power despite massive protests and calls for his resignation as armed gangs tighten their grip on the Caribbean nation. The U.S. State Department recently reissued its highest-level travel advisory warning Americans not to travel to Haiti, citing the country’s alarming spike in kidnappings.

The orphanage attack has triggered a new level of anger and disgust with Haiti’s growing insecurity and the government’s inability to tackle the problem. The assault occurred in the same suburb where five Roman Catholic priests and two nuns were kidnapped on Sunday, along with three relatives of a priest. Two French citizens were among those abducted. They were on their way to the installation of a new parish priest.

The Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince said in a statement that it has witnessed what church leaders described as the “descent into hell of Haitian society” as armed violence spikes.

“The public authorities who are doing nothing to resolve this crisis are not immune from suspicion. We denounce the complacency and complicity, wherever they come from,” the archdiocese said.

There have been several kidnappings involving church leaders in recent weeks. Just days before Easter, four Seventh-day Adventist Church members were abducted during a worship service being livestreamed on Facebook. They were eventually released after a ransom was paid.

The Protestant Federation of Haiti wrote a letter to Haitian Prime Minister Joseph Jouthe decrying the kidnappings and a recent gang attack on the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Bel Air in which 13 people were killed and at least 22 homes burned, the National Human Rights Defense Network said in an initial report. Church leaders called on the government to “put an end to this suffering inflicted on the Haitian people.”

Jouthe responded Monday, blaming police for the kidnappings on the outskirts of the capital, saying officers hadn’t been proactive enough in establishing control of the crime-ridden area. He claimed that kidnappings had decreased “considerably” after the government ordered Haitians to remove window tints from their vehicles, though he did not provide any numbers.

“I wouldn’t say it was at zero,” said Jouthe, who heads the security council.

Reports of kidnappings in Haiti continue to make headlines on a near daily basis, drawing alarm from international allies and humanitarian groups as Moïse tries to stabilize the country.

On Saturday, at least two kidnappings were registered in the capital. Dr. André Junior Valembrun, an orthopedic surgeon, and Yves Benoit Jean-Marie, an accountant and high-ranking member of the Free Mason Order, were both abducted in the Delmas 75 neighborhood.

On Monday, a prominent businessman in the maritime sector, Patrick Thébaud, 57, was killed after assailants sprayed his white armored Lexus with high-powered bullets as he drove through the streets of Port-au-Prince. A video and photo of the attack shared on social media showed several bullets in the window of the driver’s side, and a lifeless Thébaud in the front seat.

Attending the inauguration of a new customs facility Monday, Moïse called kidnapping a “scourge” and referred to the priests’ kidnapping as “terrible.” He blamed the crime surge on illegal arms filtering into the country.

“I am aware that the state must make more of an effort in the battle against this catastrophe that is kidnapping and organized crime in the country,” he said. “This is why I always give instructions to the authorities concerned to show more vigilance and intelligence in their battles against these scourges.”

Villedrouin, the director of Haiti’s child welfare agency, said her workers were en route Tuesday to provide psycho-social support to those who witnessed the attack on the orphanage. She said her office would also review the new location they were taken to for their safety.

“It’s not only the child who was attacked but the others who were there and had to witness that,” she said. “They were also traumatized.”

The manager of the home said there have been several attempted attacks on his Chanje Lakay (Change Home) orphanage after a February prison break of the civil prison in Croix-des-Bouquets. More than 400 inmates escaped, including a notorious gang leader, Arnel Joseph. Joseph was killed a day later by police after he was spotted riding on the back of a motorcycle in the rural community of L’Estère, 75 miles north of the capital.

While police eventually regained control of the overcrowded prison and said they had captured dozens of prisoners, they have never provided a full accounting of how many escaped inmates remain free. Human rights advocates say the number is in the hundreds.

Ever since the prison break, the manager said he and his wife have tried to remain vigilant at their group home, which houses 17 girls and 17 boys. The group home, which has existed for the past eight years, works with Global Mission, a faith-based organization that does outreach in countries. In Haiti, not all children in orphanages are orphans. Some are sent to group homes because their families cannot take care of them.

He said he called police and a justice of the peace was called to the scene.

“The police is distant, and can’t do anything,” he said. “The police has a lot of numbers to call for incidents like these. My wife kept calling and couldn’t get through. There is no government institution that exists in Haiti.”

On Monday, the State Department reissued a “level four” travel advisory for Haiti, citing the country’s alarming spike in kidnappings, crime, civil unrest and COVID-19. The warning was issued amid a wave of kidnappings in metropolitan Port-au-Prince over the weekend.

The kidnappings of five priests and three nuns Sunday was confirmed by the church’s hierarchy and has been tied to a notorious gang operating in the area known as 400 Mawozo. As of Tuesday morning, the individuals were still being held and the Nouvelliste reported that a ransom of $1 million was being demanded for their release.

The U.S. isn’t the only country looking to restrict travel to Haiti. The Bahamas extended a 30-day ban against travel to Haiti for the third time on Monday. The Bahamas initially announced the ban in February, citing the country’s pre-Lenten Carnival celebrations amid fears that it would lead to a surge in COVID-19 infections. Bahamas Foreign Minister Darren Henfield told the country’s parliament on Monday that he extended the ban against Haiti because the country has yet to administer one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The orphanage manager said he told the bandits at the orphanage that they didn’t have money, because any revenue they bring in is spent on the children, but that they were unphased.

“They killed the guard and then came heavily armed,” he said. “There is no such thing as iron doors for these guys.”