Chairman of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) retired Justice Cecil Kennard says the ranks implicated in the torture of a teenager should not face further disciplinary action, given that a properly brought case in the court was dismissed for want of witnesses.
Citing the legal principle of “double jeopardy,” Kennard stated that the men could not and should not be charged for the same offence again. Double jeopardy is a procedural defence that forbids a defendant from being tried again on the same or similar charges, following a legitimate acquittal or conviction. “Is it really fair to bring charges against these people … you cannot discipline them for using unnecessary violence because that was tied up with the charge,” he told Stabroek News yesterday.
He also pointed out that there were no witnesses to testify against the ranks should further action be sought against them. This point was also noted by head of the police Criminal Investigation Department Assistant Commissioner Seelall Persaud last week.
The PCA Chairman said he supposed the Commis-ioner of Police Henry Greene would seek to charge the men again, which might involve further directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions. However, Kennard stated that he does not believe the men should face even departmental charges in connection with what they had been charged with unless it is in relation to other breaches of the police force’s disciplinary regulations.
Kennard also said that a formal complaint was never made to the PCA on behalf of the tortured teen.
However, he explained that the Commissioner was duty-bound to report the matter to the PCA before it was sent to the DPP for advice. The PCA, according to him, was only made aware of the matter after the DPP had advised police on the matter.
Sergeant Narine Lall and Constable Mohanram Dolai had been charged jointly with felonious wounding.
The charge alleged that they unlawfully and maliciously wounded the 15-year-old boy, with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or cause him grievous bodily harm. This incident allegedly occurred at the Leonora Police Station.
The men are still serving members of the Guyana Police Force but have been interdicted from duty. Greene, speaking with this newspaper last Friday, was unsure about what would happen with regard to disciplining Lall and Dolai now that the court case has been dismissed.
Two Fridays ago, Magistrate Nyasha Williams-Hatmin dismissed the case at the Vreed-en-Hoop Magis-trates’ Court after witnesses failed to attend court.
However, despite the legal technicalities, the question of whether Dolai and Lall are being allowed to get away with criminal conduct still exists.
The men were charged after a report generated from an investigation conducted by the police force’s Office of Professional Responsibil-ity (OPR) found that they had tortured the teen boy by pouring methylated spirits on his genital area and setting it alight.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had also publicly acknowledged that the teen had been tortured by policemen.
Several others, including the then D Division Com-mander Paulette Morrison, were disciplined. Morrison was demoted and transferred. She has since retired from the force.
