The office of the attorney general has been ordered by the high court to pay a combined total of, $1.27 million to three Venezuelan children who were detained at the Chaguaramas heliport.

The court says, their detention was unlawful.

On Tuesday master Shurlanne Pierre directed that the state pay each of the children, ages 12, seven and two, $425,000 plus interest.

The master of the court said, the children are being compensated “for the ordeal they suffered”, and the “torturous acts committed against them.

The money is to be paid into the court, and will then be placed in an interest-bearing account by the registrar of the high court.

They will not be allowed to access the money until they attain the age of 18, but in the interim, their mother may apply to the court for access to money from the account to meet their immediate needs.

The siblings and their mother were detained at the heliport from December 15th, 2020, to February 17th 2021.

A deportation order was issued for the mother on January 12th, 2021, but not the children.

They had formed part of a larger group of Venezuelans, which arrived in this country on board a pirogue on November 17th, 2020.