Shaka Chase, who was held for the murder of a policeman before being freed, has filed a lawsuit against the state asking for a declaration that he was tortured while in police custody and seeking in excess of $200,000 for a breach of his constitutional rights and assault.
The action which was filed by attorney at law Nigel Hughes on July 4, 2013 named Chase as the applicant and the attorney general as the respondent.
Chase became the centre of a controversial investigation into the murder of police corporal Romein Cleto. Despite statements from persons that Chase was nowhere close to the Avenue of the Republic and Regent Street spot where gunmen opened fire on a police patrol killing Cleto, police still charged him. The charge also came amidst allegations that Chase was tortured and later taken to the Georgetown Hospital for medical attention.
On his second court appearance, the police prosecutor said that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had advised that the murder charge be withdrawn.
In court documents seen by this newspaper Chase is asking for a declaration that “the applicant was subjected to torture and or inhumane and or degrading treatment” by police on May 16, 2013 while in custody, in breach of his fundamental rights as set out in the Constitution.
He is also asking for damages in excess of $100, 000 for breach of his constitutional; right and protection against inhumane treatment on May 16, 2013.
The court documents stated that Chase also seeks exemplary damages among them damages in excess of $100, 000 for assault and a declaration that the arrest, detention and subsequent institution of the charge of murder against him was a breach of his protected constitutional right.
The grounds for filing the Notice of Motion are that on April 27, 2013 he voluntarily attended the East La Penitence Police Outpost; that during his three-day detention he provided the ranks with detailed information of his whereabouts at the time of the shooting; that on May 16, 2013 he was rearrested and was subject to torture by constant high voltage electrical shocks to his testicles and other sensitive parts of his body at the Eve Leary Police Station; that after approximately three hours of torture he was administered a noxious substance by police officers Narine, Melville and Reid which caused him to defecate and become violently ill; that he fell unconscious as a result of the torture and that he was coerced into signing a confession statement implicating himself in the policeman’s murder.
The documents said too that on May 19 Chase’s lawyer obtained statements from several eye witnesses confirming that he was at another location at the time of the shooting but police refused to accept them (the statements).
On the said day, May 19, 2013, the documents said, copies of those statements were given to the DPP adding that despite these statements and the consideration/investigation of those statements, the murder charge was instituted against Chase on May 20, 2013.
In his affidavit in support of the motion Chase said that he was at his friend Tasha’s barbeque on April 27, 2013, the day the policeman was shot dead from 11 am to 7 pm. Based on the accounts reported to this newspaper the shooting occurred around 6 30pm.
