Teenage robbery accused Trevor Roberts yesterday told a court that police beat him with a gun when they arrested him.
Roberts, 18, of ‘B’ Field, Sophia, was charged with stealing a cell phone and cash, which amounted to $36,000 in total, when he appeared before Magistrate Sueanna Lovell.
The prosecution’s case against Roberts is that on October 18, in Georgetown, in the presence of others, he robbed Romario Fernandes of the phone and cash.
Roberts denied the charge.
According to the prosecution, Fernandes was walking at the Route 40 minibus park around 8 pm last Thursday, when Roberts, in the company of another, came up from behind him, snatched him by the neck and relieved him of the phone. Prosecutor Winneth Hubbard noted that an alarm was raised and officers captured Roberts and placed him under arrest.
Roberts, when given the opportunity to speak, said he followed his girlfriend to the minibus park when two police officers shouted at him that he was wanted for a robbery. He said they slammed him into a grill structure and beat him behind his neck with a gun, causing him injuries about his body.
He further said that he bled through his nose and had terrible pain in his neck region and though he requested to seek medical attention, he was refused by the policemen who detained him.
Magistrate Lovell then made a request to the police for Roberts to be taken for medical attention before or after he makes bail.
The prosecution had no objections to bail, which was set at $75,000. The case was adjourned until November 6, when it will be called in court one.
