Police Constables Devin Singh and Roselle Tilbury-Douglas, who were accused of the brutal assault on detainee Colwyn Harding, who alleged that he was sodomised with a baton during his arrest in 2013, were yesterday cleared of all charges.
The charges against Singh of Lot 125 Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara, and
Tilbury-Douglas, of Alliance Road, Timehri, East Bank Demerara, were dismissed by trial magistrate Leron Daly at the Providence Magistrate’s Court due to insufficient evidence.
Singh and Tilbury-Douglas were jointly charged with assaulting Harding between November 1st and November 13th, 2013, at the Timehri Police Station. Singh also faced an additional assault charge.
When the matter was called for a hearing yesterday, an application was made by defence attorneys Leslie Sobers and Glenn Hanoman for the charges to be dismissed on the ground that the court’s time was being wasted. Harding, who was scheduled to continue his testimony yesterday, was also absent on two consecutive occasions without any excuses prior to the hearing. He turned up to court just after the charges were dismissed.
Sobers represented Tilbury-Douglas, while Singh was represented by Hanoman. The matter was prosecuted by special prosecutor Nigel Hughes.
When the matter was called yesterday morning, Hughes was absent but another attorney appeared on his behalf. However, the prosecution was called upon to close the case and the matter was subsequently dismissed.
The severity of Harding’s injuries, which resulted in him being hospitalised for an intestinal hernia and undergoing multiple surgeries, had sparked public outcry, which led to a formal investigation and the laying of charges against Singh and Tilbury-Douglas.
Harding, in testimony during the trial, had recounted the alleged baton assault on him during his arrest in a house at Timehri.
Harding said he was handcuffed and thrown against the wall by Singh, who then started pummeling him about his body for about 15 minutes. He noted that while Singh was beating him, there was a Community Police rank present.
Singh, he had said, later collected an 18-inch long baton from the 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 he was then forced to remove his underwear.
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 had also alleged that he was beaten several times at the Timehri Police Station, where he was subsequently held in the lock-ups. Tilbury-Douglas, he had testified, hit him with a baton for approximately ten minutes in one instance.
