Murder-accused Owen Belfield yesterday testified that there was calm in the prisoners’ dorm prior to the deadly fire at the Camp Street jail that claimed the lives of 17 inmates.
Belfield, an inmate of Capital A section, was the fifth witness called to testify at the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the prisoner deaths at the Department of Public Service building, where he also admitted to taking a photo in the jail that was uploaded to Facebook.
In his testimony, Belfield recalled witnessing the takedown of two inmates by a Joint Services task force. This takedown is believed to have taken place following a search on the prisoners on the morning of March 3rd, prior to the fire in the Capital Offences section.
He said he was on his way out of the dormitory when the call was made by authorities for the door to be shut. Before its closure, he said, he had a clear view into the prison yard. From his position, he said he could see a line of officers and a line of inmates and recalled that at the time the bags of the inmates were being searched.
He recalled then seeing members of the task force surround an inmate by the name of Steve Allicock and move him away from the line where the search was being conducted. Allicock was in May, 2015, charged with the murder of Wendell Tappin, which occurred in December, 2009.
He then witnessed the second takedown—that of Collis Collison, known as “Juvenile.” He said approximately four officers approached Collison with shields and braced him. He said he then saw them lift him into the air and take him to the front. This evidence corroborates that of two other witnesses—Errol Kesney and Dwain Lewis.
At that point, attorney for the Prison Service Selwyn Pieters suggested to the witness that at the moment he saw Collison being surrounded by the officers, he had already been searched. He further suggested that when the officers surrounded the inmate, he attempted to fight them off. Belfield said he did not see any of this occur.
Pieters also put it to the witness that Collison was never lifted into the air, but was forced to the ground and handcuffed. He suggested that it was at this point when the officers were attempting to gain control of the prisoner that inmates began rushing back to the Division.
He further suggested that those who were inside of Capital A at the time rushed the door and became verbally abusive to the prison officials. He claimed that they began poking objects through the metal grill, pouring liquids believed to be urine, and pelting bricks gathered from the debris of the wall broken between the divisions at the officers. Pieters suggested that after the door was locked, a cork was placed at the keyhole, preventing it from being opened from the outside and leading officials to call for the inmates to open the door. The only time an order was passed for the door to be closed, he submitted, was when the door was rushed by the prisoners.
All these suggestions were claimed to be false by Belfield, who maintained his earlier stance that there was calm in the dorm before the fire began. Pieters however, stated that his claims would be verified by video evidence, which he noted on Thursday had already been submitted to the Commission.
Facebook posts
During testimony, Belfield was questioned by Pieters about the nature of his relationship with Collison. Belfield denied that he was close to the inmate, but under further questioning, agreed to having posed once for a picture with the prisoner, which he said he believed was taken by another inmate, the now deceased Rayon Paddy. He was not aware that this photo had been uploaded to the social media platform Facebook by Collison, although he admitted to having a Facebook account himself.
A check of Belfield’s Facebook page revealed that his last activity on the network was on February 18th, when he updated his profile picture, which shows him standing in front of a backdrop of sheets and what appears to be light pouring through a grilled surface illuminating his face. Belfield was charged and remanded to prison since January 12th.
A search of Collison’s page revealed several photos taken within their dorm at the prison, two of which show some of the inmates posing in their boxer shorts, sweaty. Seemingly after a game of football. Some of the prisoners identified from Collison’s photos are Jermain Otto, Anthony Primo and Rayon Paddy.
Also posting on Facebook is another inmate, identified as Carl Brown, whose page appears to be updated quite frequently. It shows that he is well informed on current affairs, and very opinionated on matters of social justice, especially at the Georgetown prison. A photo uploaded by him last evening of yesterday’s lunch served to the inmates of curried potatoes and fried fish was accompanied by the caption, “…total disrespect to humanity. Inmates need proper meals and a proper diet.”
