Two policemen who were accused of assaulting a 10-year-old child earlier this year made their second appearance at the New Amsterdam Court on Monday and pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Reports are that between January 1 to 3, 2008 Corporal Godfrey Playter and another officer, Elroy Williams unlawfully and maliciously assaulted the child, Ravanlee Chan so as to cause him grievous bodily harm.
Playter and Williams are being represented by attorneys-at-law, Ramesh Rajkumar and Michael Baird respectively. Magistrate Chandra Sohan adjourned the matter to a later date.
It is alleged that the beatings stemmed from a report that the child’s neighbour made that he stole $6,000 from her on January 1. The child and his father [who died of natural causes shortly after], were taken into custody at the Sisters Police Station, East Berbice.
They were kept in separate cells. The father, who had told this newspaper that he heard the boy screaming during the night while he was being beaten, was released the following morning.
The child remained in custody at Sisters until January 3 and was taken to the New Amsterdam Central Police Station in handcuffs.
From there Ravanlee was escorted to the NA Hospital where he remained under police guard until January 5. Relatives observed that he had “marks of violence about the body.” He was discharged from hospital on January 11.
The child’s lawyer, Charrandas Persaud had told Stabroek News (SN) that a medical report found that the “legs and tights bore marks consistent to those inflicted with a fine object [whip].”
The report also stated that there was erythema (redness of the skin) to the thorax and that the posterior showed signs of marks inflicted with a baton.
The lawyer told this newspaper that he has “proceeded to court to seek justice because of their [the cops’] reluctance to settle.” He said too that he was still waiting to hear from the police investigating team with regards to the incident.
Persaud complimented Minister of Human Services & Social Security, Priya Manickchand for setting up an account at the Republic Bank for the child and for making arrangements for her ministry to deposit $6,000 monthly.
He also told SN that he met the minister following a letter by him that was published in the newspapers and that he had accompanied her to visit the boy’s family.
