– detectives arrested
In a case that has sparked outrage, a 15-year-old boy has been left physically scarred after enduring days of horrific treatment at the hands of police, who are accused of burning of his genitals.
Two officers attached to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), who interrogated the teen, have since been arrested as the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) launched an investigation yesterday. The teen, originally held for questioning after last week’s murder of retired Region Three vice-chairman Ramenaught Bisram, was taken for medical attention yesterday after his attorney and the media turned up at the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station where he was in custody. The boy, who is two weeks shy of his 16th birthday, is currently a patient of the Georgetown Hospital and his parents are among the many who are calling for an independent inquiry to be conducted urgently and for the policemen responsible to be brought to justice.
According to accounts, the boy was tortured at the Leonora Police Station three nights ago and could be heard screaming for mercy by residents. The report of the incident comes a day after suspect in the murder, Deonarine Rafick, made similar allegations during a court appearance. Rafick displayed signs of a beating and had a gaping wound to his head which required stitches.
Stabroek News understands that there are two other young men in custody and there are fears that they too were tortured. The case has drawn comparisons to torture allegations made by Buxtonians Patrick Sumner, Victor Jones, and David Leander, called `Biscuit,’ against the army and the police.
Police, responding to a picture of the lad’s horrifically burnt genitals which was published on the front page of yesterday’s Kaieteur News, announced an investigation into “a report of alleged excessive use of force on prisoners by members of the force.”
The force said in a press release issued yesterday afternoon, that after the murder of Bisram, Rafick and “a male who told the police that he was 18 years of age” were arrested. They were subsequently interviewed by two CID ranks, “who are alleged to have used excessive force on the prisoners resulting in them receiving injuries. However, they were medically treated and remained in custody.”
Stabroek News was told last evening by one of Rafick’s relatives that he had not been taken for medical attention as was stated by police. The police further added that the two ranks, who were conducting the investigations and were responsible for the interrogation of the suspects, were arrested and taken into police custody. Investigations are being conducted by ranks of the police force’s OPR, under Assistant Commissioner Heeralall Mackhanlall.
Inhumane
treatment
The teen’s mother, Shirley Thomas and stepfather Doodnauth Jaikarran called ‘Birdie,’ yesterday appealed for justice. Jaikarran, while speaking to the media, said that what was done could not be humane treatment and expressed the desire that the ranks who committed the gruesome acts be met with similar treatment so that they could feel what his son went through. “I think the justice is to give them back the same treatment. This is not human treatment. They should get the same treatment, to feel the pains,” the visibly upset man said, stressing that the experience could have killed his son.
Quizzed on who could have carried out the acts, Jaikarran said he believed it was the police because another prisoner would not have been able to do that. “If they are saying that the police didn’t do it to them, somebody ain’t doing them wuk. They take liquid into the lockups?” he asked.
The man who was unable to find out which station his son was being held at for three days is convinced that the police had them running from station to station because they did not want the teen’s condition to be revealed. For him, the cruellest part of the ordeal was the fact that the child was not taken for medical attention, even though a hospital was less than five minutes away. “They want to kill the child or something. ‘Cause I can’t see you hold somebody and ain’t carry them for treatment. You cannot treat a prisoner like that, they must be treated like humans,” he pointed out.
Jaikarran said that as far as he knew, his son was not involved in the murder. He pointed out that the lad would be at home at early hours watching television. He explained that the teen was picked up at his home in Canal Number Two, a few houses away from where the murder occurred. At the time of the discovery, he said the teen was in his bed. This was confirmed by the teen’s older sister, who was at home at the time.
The teen worked with Bisram as a carpenter when he was constructing his house less than a year ago but Jaikarran said that there was no problem between the two and that the late Bisram and his family had had a good relationship.
Meanwhile, the family’s lawyer, Khemraj Ramjattan, said all the treatment meted out to his client was “intensely cruel and inhumane. What my client has been saying to me is proof that this police force had some elements that are intensely cruel and inhumane. The torture that this little child went through is unimaginable.”
He told the media that the incident occurred on Wednes-day night and alleged that his client was beaten in the head, on the bottom of his feet and in the chest with a heavy object simply for him to say that he knew something about the murder. Ramjattan said that fact that his client was left with the burns since Wednesday night goes to show that “we have evolved into a state of madness. I have to shed a tear there as to what I saw, with the child crying and trembling all the time and since Wednesday he was not taken to hospital by police. They never did anything to ease the pain, but have them in the lock-ups since Wednesday.”
He added that he was trying to get the ranks to take the child to the hospital but was told that the police had their work to do. Ramjattan stated too that the parents have been frustrated and traumatized by what they have seen, having not been able to see the boy from the beginning as they were referred from station to station. “We have come to an extremely bad state and this is being done by people who are supposed to protect and serve and ensure the rule of law,” he declared.
Responding to a question about what he plans to do for his client, he said that he intends as much as possible to see that justice is done through the courts; to see that the policemen who committed the acts are prosecuted and that justice is done. At the administrative level, Ramjattan stated he plans to help prevent a reoccurrence by ensuring that the necessary mechanisms and operational approaches are put in place.
Commenting on past allegations, the attorney said that “not bringing charges to the policemen have created an incentive for them to continue doing it and that is why we need charges. Policemen have been identified here.”
He said that the allegations being made against the force by the public are being vindicated, so it is beyond “a shadow of a doubt” that torture is part of some elements of the force. Like the teen’s parents, he believed the delay in taking him to the hospital was a clear attempt to cover up. He said it was only because it was published on the front page of a newspaper that the move was made to take him for medical attention. He pointed out that the time has come to seek an international audience.
Wrapped in
a sheet
Stabroek News has been reliably informed that because of the burns, the lad was not wearing clothing while he was in detention. When he was taken to the hospital, he was wrapped in a sheet and was instructed by the police to cover his head with a jersey. The car used to transport him was moved very close to the hospital entrance to prevent media operatives from seeing the boy.
While speaking with Ramjattan, members of the media were approached by a CID rank and told to conduct the interview outside the perimeters of the station. The station gates were closed moments after the media operatives walked out. Later, while attempting to see his client, Ramjattan was also instructed to leave the station compound and had to communicate with the parents who were in the compound from the roadway.
By this time, persons passing stopped and spoke out about the gates being closed on the media and questioned if someone went to make a report what would be done. Attempts were later made to prevent media workers from performing their duties when they turned up at the West Demerara Regional Hospital. The policeman there said that he had received instructions from his “boss” that the media should not be allowed to take photographs. He was even heard instructing the security at the hospital, to throw media workers out of the compound and lock the gates. However, the media refused to leave and the rank later backed down but concealed the entrance to the room the boy was in with his body.
After seeing a doctor there and having his burns dressed, the teen was transferred by ambulance to the Georgetown Hospital under heavy security. There were ranks in the ambulance and the two cars escorting it. He was then whisked away into the Emergency Room.
Meanwhile, Deonarine Rafick’s father, Abdul, yesterday said that he is very upset with the conduct of the police, who beat his son mercilessly so that he could confess to a crime he knew nothing about. “They should set him free and search for the real killers. What dem do ain’t right,” the man said, telling this newspaper that the allegations surfaced when ranks turned up at his Canal Number Two Polder home on Wednesday night.
According to him, the ranks went with his son and conducted a search and it was when they were leaving that his son, a farmer, blurted out that he had been beaten. The man said that he was unable to see if there were any marks of violence because he was standing at a distance.
It was only when they turned up at the Leonora Police Station, where he was being held, that the family heard from residents that there were screams coming from the station. They then contacted an attorney.
Recounting how his son was held, Abdul said the police turned up at his house last Monday night and said they were taking him down to the police station for questioning but he never returned home until Wednesday night.
According to him, someone claimed that his son “walks late at night” and that was what prompted the police to go to his home.
On Friday, when Rafick appeared at the Wales Magistrate’s Court, his lawyer Pamela De Santos submitted to the court that he was not only severely beaten by the police but also burnt on the tongue with a cigarette. She had also named three ranks attached to the Leonora Police Station accused of carrying out the acts.
