-held since Tuesday, says was cuffed in mouth
The 15-year-old who was tortured by West Demerara police is likely to spend the next six months in the hospital even as the relatives of another detained man have expressed concern for his well-being.
There is also concern about the fact that the torture occurred in the Police ‘D’ Division Headquarters at Leonora, where the Commander, the Deputy Commander and other top officials are based.
Screams were heard emanating from the police station last Wednesday, reports said. The teenager, a 20-year-old man (who remains in custody) and Deonarine Rafick were held for questioning after last week’s murder of retired Region Three vice-chairman Ramenauth Bisram. Rafick was charged with the murder on Friday and also alleged torture during his court appearance. He had displayed signs of a beating and had a gaping wound to his head which required stitches.
The 15-year-old however bore horrific burns to his genitals and surrounding parts of his body and his attorney has also said that he was beaten. But it was not until days later, on Saturday that the police took him to the hospital following media reports. Later that day, the lawmen announced an investigation into what it described as “a report of alleged excessive use of force on prisoners by members of the force.” Two detectives have been arrested.
Screams
A Leonora resident told Stabroek News yesterday that between 6:30 pm and 7 pm in the latter part of last week, he heard screams emanating from the station. While he could not pinpoint an exact day, he said that it sounded “like if they beating somebody or something…me ain’t know if they giving somebody a lil touch up or wah”.
“Me ain’t really check or nothing”, the resident, who lives close to the police station said, adding that it was not the first time that he had heard screams coming from the station.
One man, remains in custody as the police investigate Bisram’s murder. He is 20-year-old Nouravie ‘Navin’ Wilfred. Relatives have not been allowed to see him since he was held by police last Tuesday night. Yesterday, they were very concerned following a visit to the station, where he told them that he was cuffed in the mouth by the police. He has already been held beyond the permissible 72 hours and there is no evidence that an extension of detention was sought from the court.
His sister, Pharbattie told this newspaper that police forbade access to Wilfred when they once again carried food to him yesterday. But, as she and her husband were leaving, she said, Wilfred shouted through the window of the lock-ups that he wanted his mother to come. “He sey tell mammy leh she come early. He sey that ‘they cuff me in meh mouth and me cyan eat’…he sey he ah punish foh eat”, the woman related. She said that her brother then began to cry. Pharbattie said that the police asked them to leave and told them that they could not speak with Wilfred.
Relatives said that they could not afford a lawyer though today they plan to see what they can do. “We beg them (police) foh see he but them don’t allow you foh see”, Deomattie Shivpersaud, Wilfred’s aunt told Stabroek News.
Wilfred lived with six siblings and his mother in a shack at Canal Number Two. He worked with a lumber operation in the interior and had returned last week Saturday. He was staying with friends at La Grange because the home was not big enough to accommodate them all, relatives said. According to them, Wilfred’s mother asked why he was picked up and the police responded that they had gotten some information and his name was called. Up to last night, relatives said, they had not been allowed to see him.
Six months
Meantime, the 15-year-old remains in the hospital with a police guard stationed at the entrance to the burn care unit. When this newspaper visited the hospital yesterday, the policeman said that he was there to prevent the media from entering.
Deeply worried, the teen’s mother, Shirley Thomas said the nurse had told her that her son has to be hospitalized for at least the next six months. When he was in Primary Two, the lad was forced to drop out of school because his parents could not afford to pay his sister’s exam fees and send him to school at the same time. It was “a very hard situation”, Thomas said.
In the next two weeks, the lad, the third of six children, will be 16. He was a porter on a lumber truck and helped the family with expenses to send his younger siblings to school. Last Monday night, the police came for him. Since then, Thomas was given the runaround when she attempted to find out at which police station he was being held.
She said that she only learnt that her son was hurt when a man who was incarcerated with him, told her that the police had “scorched” him. This person could be an important witness to what transpired. It was only on Friday that Thomas managed to find out where her son was. She said that the boy chatted with her yesterday though he did not really want to speak about the incident. She said that he told her that after the police burnt him, the ranks gave him blankets and food.
An upset Thomas said that she wants justice. “Me want something to be done…”, the woman declared adding that she believes that the police should be treated in the same matter as they did her son.
The lad assisted with household expenses particularly as it relates to sending his three youngest siblings to school, his step-father Doodnauth Jaikarran said. “We are very poor. We struggling foh rice foh eat”, the man stated frankly noting that he works as a labourer. Jaikarran is a distant relative to Wilfred but his step-son and Wilfred did not work together. They knew each other by “seeing”, relatives said.
Meanwhile, relatives of Rafick yesterday said that up to Saturday, he was not taken to the hospital. They expressed worry about his condition.
And even as the police Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) conduct their investigations, this newspaper was informed that the question of identification of the ranks who committed the act has been raised because the teen was blindfolded when his genitals were doused with a flammable liquid and set alight.
It is not the first time the police have been accused of wounding a child in their custody. Last year in Berbice, two ranks were charged with assaulting 10-year-old Ravanlee Chan. Reports are that between January 1 to 3, 2008 Corporal Godfrey Playter and another officer, Elroy Williams unlawfully and maliciously assaulted the child so as to cause him grievous bodily harm.
They had both denied the charge in a court appearance. It was 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. Ravanlee remained in custody at Sisters until January 3 and was taken to the New Amsterdam Central Police Station in handcuffs. From there, he 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, Charrandass Persaud had told Stabroek News at the time 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.
When contacted yesterday, Persaud said that the matter had been dismissed in his absence by Magistrate Geeta Chandan-Persid Edmond. He said that at the time, he wasn’t present in court, the matter was called and then dismissed and he “still can’t understand why”. According to the attorney, the Ministry of Human Services had promised to visit the child and take “pocket money” but never followed through on this promise.
