Two police constables accused of assaulting Colwyn Harding late last year were today placed on bail after denying the charges.
Devin Singh and Roslyn Tilbury-Douglas appeared before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry this afternoon charged with assaulting Harding sometime between November 1 and November 13, 2013 at the Timehri Police Station.
Singh was placed on $200,000 bail while Tilbury-Douglas was placed on $100,000 bail.
The duo will return to court tomorrow.
Harding had accused a police constable of ramming a condom-covered baton up his anus and later physically assaulting him last November. That rank who was at the time stationed at the Timehri Police Station was placed under close arrest before being allowed to resume normal duties at another location. Several ranks from the station were also transferred as a result of the incident.
Harding’s story was never made public until January.
According to his mother, she had informed senior officials that her son had been sexually assaulted and the complaint was handled at the Brickdam Police Station, but nothing was done. Following the publication of Harding’s plight – at the time he was hospitalized in the Georgetown Public Hospital where a hernia operation had been performed on him – the matter was immediately handed over to the Force’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
After making recommendations, the file was sent to the Head of the Police Complaints Authority Cecil Kennard and later the DPP. However the DPP sent it back to the police stating that there was need for additional investigations. There were several other movements of the file back and forth
The hospital had said that it was never informed that Harding had been allegedly raped and during their examinations of him, they did not see any signs of it.
Harding however later underwent two private examinations, one at a private hospital here and the other in Jamaica and the conclusion from both was that a foreign object had been inserted into his anus.
