Cell Block. [File Photo]

The Fiji Police Force is refuting claims made in one of the dailies headlined “Boy sleeps in cell”.

Chief Operations Officer, ACP Livai Driu says the article claims that a five-year-old child was forced to sleep overnight at the Tavua Police Station, but this was never the case.

ACP Driu says on March 30th at around 6.30pm the child’s parents were brought in for questioning in relation an alleged assault case that was pending.

He says the two were escorted to the Tavua Police Station in a police vehicle and at no time their son was with them.

ACP Driu adds their son was also not with them during the questioning process which ended after 9pm where they were formally charged.

The Chief Operations Officer says upon the completion of the questioning process, the child was seen at the Station who was brought in by a relative.

He says the officers then advised the parents their son could not stay with them overnight and asked that he return with the relative as they would be kept in custody overnight and be produced in court the next day.

ACP Driu says the officers did all they could to safely return the child to the relative, who refused and therefore agreed for both mother and child to stay together.

He says the mother and son were never kept in a cell as officers quickly made arrangements for them to stay in the Tavua Police Conference room overnight and were also allowed to move around in the Station.

ACP Driu assures the public that if there was any truth to the claims of abuse of authority, it would have been investigated and the officers responsible dealt with.

However, he says the claims made in the article was false.