No charges were instituted against the sergeant and constable in relation to the torture of the teenage boy when they appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Later in the day Police Commissioner Henry Greene said that this was because there had been no positive identification as yet.
In a courtroom packed to capacity, Sergeant Narine Lall, 38, who resides in the Leonora Police Station Compound, West Coast Demerara (WCD) and Constable Mohanram Dolai, a 30-year-old of Lot 101 East Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara were read the charges of unlawful wounding and felonious wounding.
There was no visible change to the blank expressions on the faces of the men as they stood in the dock of the courtroom and were informed by Magistrate Robertson that they were not required to plead to the indictable charges jointly laid against them.
They were later remanded to prison and their cases were transferred to the Leonora Magistrate’s Court for November 19.
According to the charges, between October 20 and 29 at the Leonora Police Station, WCD, the two policemen unlawfully and maliciously wounded Nouravie Wilfred. It is also alleged that on October 28, at the same police station, they unlawfully and maliciously wounded Deonarine Rafick, with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or cause him grievous bodily harm.
Wilfred, Rafick and the 15-year-old had been arrested following the murder last week of retired Region Three vice-chairman Ramenauth Bisram. A wounded and battered Rafick has since been charged with the murder and remanded to prison, while Wilfred was released on Tuesday after having been in custody for a week. The severely burnt teen remains a patient in the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Attorney-at-law Hukumchand, who represented Lall and Dolai, yesterday highlighted his clients’ exemplary records, stating that neither of them had ever been charged departmentally or in a criminal court for any offence before.
He said that Lall had been a policeman for over 20 years and it was as a result of his clean slate that he had been promoted to sergeant.
The lawyer said Dolai had been a constable for over eight years.
He said his clients are the sole breadwinners for their families.
The lawyer then requested that the Administration of Justice Act (AJA) be applied to the indictable charges to make them summary ones to enable the duo to enter guilty or not guilty pleas.
However, the magistrate told the lawyer the charges will remain indictable at this point in time.
Hukumchand, in his failed bid to secure bail for his clients, said that the objective of being granted bail is for someone to return to court for their trial and to ensure that while on bail there is no likelihood that the offence is repeated or any witnesses are tampered with.
He also stated that the offences were bailable ones and that “my clients are ordinary public servants in a disciplinary organisation”.
However, Prosecutor Deneshwar Mahendranauth objected to the bail application on the grounds that investigations are ongoing and other charges are likely to be brought against the duo. He strengthened his objection by stating that if released it was likely that the two accused may tamper with the investigation.
The prosecutor noted that the accused were stationed at the Leonora Police Station when a murder was reported. He said that on October 27, the two men and teenage boy were arrested and an investigation was conducted by the two, “who used unnecessary force to conduct this investigation on those arrested.
“Each rank should know the Standard Operational Procedure when conducting investigations of this nature,” he added, alleging that the actions of the duo clearly showed that these procedures were disregarded.
Hukumchand then interjected stating, “the fact that the prosecution is saying that my clients should have known better then it’s clear that he has already pronounced them guilty.”
He went on to say that his clients had been in police custody for over 96 hours.
He argued that if the prosecution thought that his clients would interfere with the investigation there should be some sort of evidence to prove this.
After listening to both sides the magistrate remanded the two policemen to prison.
Seconds after the two prisoners were escorted out, the entire courtroom emptied and policemen, lawyers, clerks, journalists and a crowd of disorderly onlookers adjourned to the court yard where they waited for them to come out of the chute to go into the court’s lock-up.
They were not disappointed, several minutes later the chute door opened and the two ranks who had covered their faces emerged to be greeted by an angry crowd.
The shouting for justice and peace had gone on in the court yard for over 20 minutes and when the two prisoners emerged again and this time, led by the policemen guarding them, they dashed to the side of the court to another exit.
The crowd, including women with their babies on their hips and elderly women, scampered from the court yard into Croal Street to catch a glimpse of them as they were placed into a police vehicle that sped off.
