Colwyn Harding, who has accused a police constable of raping him with a baton, yesterday testified about the attack, which he says was filmed by a community police rank.
After several months of adjournments, Harding was finally given the chance to continue his testimony yesterday before Magistrate Leron Daly at the Providence Magistrate’s Court, where Police Constables Devin Singh and Roselle Tilbury-Douglas are on trial.
Singh, of Lot 125 Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara, and Tilbury-Douglas, of Alliance Road, Timehri, East Bank Demerara, are charged with assaulting Harding between November 1 and November 13, 2013, at the Timehri Police Station.
Singh, who Harding has identified as the rank who raped him with a condom-covered baton, also faces a separate assault charge.
Harding had initially testified that he was with his girlfriend, Teneisha Evans, in a house at Timehri when several police ranks kicked open the door and invaded the house.
He said he was handcuffed and thrown against the wall by Singh, who then subsequently started “straight righting” him about his body for about 15 minutes. He noted that while Singh was beating him, there was a Community Police rank present, whom he identified from the uniform he was wearing. “He [Singh] took me back to the bedroom, braced me to the wall and told the Negro officer [Community Police Rank] to hold me,” the emotional Harding told the court.
He said Singh then subsequently searched a wardrobe and found two pairs of underwear. “I was screaming for help and then Singh fold it up and push it in my mouth. I had no choice but I spit it out back and bite him and then he cuff me to my mouth and put it [the underwear] back in my mouth,” the visibly-shaken man said.
Harding said Singh then took him to the kitchen, where there were four officers who subsequently left, leaving him with Singh and the Community Police rank. After the other ranks left, he said Singh said, “Ya’ll does play bad boy, ya’ll does play ‘Hot Skull’” and accused him of being part of the Hot Skull gang said to have been based on Albouystown.
“I answered and the other officer asked me if he ask me to speak and then he [Singh] start cuffing and slapping me again and braced me back to the wall,” Harding said.
Singh, he added, then collected an 18-inch long baton from the Community Police rank. “He started lashing me with the baton on my hands and feet and then in my head and I get black out,” Harding said. He said when he regained consciousness he was on the ground in the bathroom and Singh was pouring a bucket of water on him.
“He asked me to stand up and I told him that I can’t and he picked me up and took me outside back to the kitchen,” he said, while noting that once there he threatened Singh. “I told him that, ‘You see how you cruel me? When I come out, I gon’ look for you.’ And then he said, ‘Oh, you want to look for me? I’ll give you something to look for,’” Harding added, while recounting that Singh started to beat him with the baton again.
“After the third lash, I get hazy and I tried to pull back and end up bracing the wall and he stamped me with his right foot straight to my chest and continued hitting me with the baton.
After a while, I had no choice and I start to cry and tried to pull down to the ground and while I try going down I get another lash in my head and I fainted away again,” he said.
Harding added that he regained consciousness for the second time in the bathroom, where Singh was again throwing water on him. Singh, he said, then asked the Community Police rank to pick him up and carry him to the bedroom. Harding said the rank took him to the bedroom and placed him on a mattress that was on the ground. “The officer asked me to take off my underwear but I couldn’t since my hands were still handcuffed behind my back and then he tell me to get up but I couldn’t because my foot was weak,” Harding said, while noting that after he couldn’t get up the officer pulled him up and braced him against the wall. “When I stand up, he told me to ‘wine it off’ and I understood that he wanted me to slide my underwear off,” he added, before explaining how he subsequently slid his underwear off, leaving him naked.
According to Harding, Singh then took out his cellular phone and handed it to the other officer and told him, “Watch what we does do to bad boys. Video this.”
He said Singh then collected the baton again, fitted it with a condom and then told him to lay on the bed. “I ask what he going to do with that and I argue and said I will talk and get you jail and he didn’t respond. We had an argument and then he start to lash me with the baton and I get lash to my head and all I remember is falling to the bed and I passed out again,” he added.
Harding said he later regained consciousness for the third time and was greeted with the sight of blood on the mattress and pain in his anus.
“I was in a lot of pain about my body and my ass and when I look up I see the Community Rank with a phone with its lights on pointing at me and Constable Singh was at the door,” Harding recounted. He said after he awoke, he stayed on the bed for about 30 minutes until all the other officers came back inside.
“A short one in casual clothes came in the room and I hear he seh ‘Me ain’t deh in this one’ and walked out back,” Harding added.
Harding added that after the plain clothes rank left, Singh brought back a pair of female underwear and told him to put it on and he complied. He said after he put the underwear on, a Corporal Lowe told Singh to take him to the station and Singh and the Community Police rank grabbed him and dragged him to the police pick-up truck and tossed him in the back. On the way to the police station, he said, they made several stops and arrested several other persons, including a 13-year-old boy.
Harding said that they were taken to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport Police Outpost and he was handcuffed to the 13-year-old boy to the bench for about three hours. Later, he said the police ranks returned and took them to the Timehri Police Station, where he was placed in a single cell.
“The cell was full of mess and I was in crucial pain so I just go and lay on the ground,” he said, while stating that he stayed in the cell all night and didn’t see Singh until the next day.
Harding’s testimony was interrupted by Prosecutor Nigel Hughes, who noted that the assault spanned over three police stations and Harding would not be able to complete the testimony yesterday. As a result, the trial was adjourned to October 29th.
