The family of Shaheed Alli, the remanded prisoner who was fatally beaten by fellow inmates while in custody at the Lusignan Prison, believes a ‘hit’ was placed on him and they are calling on prison authorities and the police to conduct a thorough probe.
Shaheed, 30, a labourer of 61 West Half Barr Street, Albouystown, succumbed on Friday to injuries from the fatal beating, which took place at around 10:58 pm in Holding Bay 1 of the Lusignan Prison last Tuesday. He was attacked hours after being booked into the prison. He was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he underwent surgery and was admitted to the male surgical ward.
At his home yesterday, Shaheed’s father Roy Alli related that the family remains clueless as to what transpired on the night his son was placed in the prison. The man explained that relatives only learnt something was amiss when he visited his son at the prison on Wednesday.
“On Wednesday, when I see me son, me son deh like this (crouching) and he can’t talk…Blood all over his face…I ask the prison authority what happened, but they tell me my son didn’t tell them anything… my son couldn’t talk, how he gone say what happen,” the father lamented.
He said that after his own inquiries, he learnt that his son was attacked in his sleep on Tuesday night by five persons and was taken to the hospital and returned to his cell.
The elder Alli said that it was after he behaved disorderly that his son was taken back to the hospital and admitted. At the hospital, police said, Shaheed underwent surgery. He had sustained a fractured skull.
His sister, Saviska Alli said that when she visited her brother on Thursday at the hospital, he was speaking, and she attempted to gain some insight into what transpired but her effort was futile.
“When I went hospital, I said ‘meh brother tell me what you know, tell me’ but he said ‘meh sister me aint know nothing, I been sleeping and they come and beat meh’…” she said, while fighting back tears.
Additionally, the family is disappointed at the poor communication between prison authorities and them.
“They didn’t call us when he got beaten up on Tuesday. We had to find out for ourselves…Friday night he died and they didn’t call us. Alright, it was too soon but they come till Saturday night and tell us he died when it was already all over the internet and people were calling and giving us their condolence,” the grieving father said.
Shaheed, relatives said, was taken into police custody for questioning on March 30th and was charged with murder on Tuesday last. They believe he was wrongfully accused of the murder. Alli and Malcolm Collie were jointly charged with the 2014 murder of Albouystown businesswoman Sumintra Dinool. Shaheed is said to be Dinool’s neighbour.
However, his sister said, “This woman don’t open her door for anyone. When she was alive, she kept her door locked” and questioned, “you hear a rapping at midnight and you would open the door?”
Questioned why the family believes a ‘hit’ was placed on Shaheed, the father said prior to being arrested on March 30th, his son served a three-year sentence at the said prison for possession of narcotics. He had only been released from prison in February and was arrested the following month.
The father alleged that as he was exiting the courtroom he was threatened.
Details surrounding the incident remain unclear. A prison official informed Stabroek News that investigations revealed that Alli was allegedly attacked and beaten by fellow inmates, hours after he was transported to the prison.
“They tell me to meet with the prison welfare Monday, but I don’t want no settlement. I will be able to bury my son. All I want is justice for his death…he was murder in prison and I want justice for him,” the distraught father said.
He related that “people telling me already to stop investigating; that they have a hit out for me but if it means getting justice for my son, I will risk it.”
Alli and Collie appeared before Magistrate Faith McGusty in a Georgetown Court. Alli was unrepresented during the hearing while Collie was represented by attorney Stanley Moore, who had requested that his client be kept at the Georgetown Prison.
The body of Dinool, 65, was discovered by one of her sons in their home at the junction of Sussex and Barr streets. The man had said that he opened the front door with his keys and had noticed nothing amiss until he went into his room and found it completely ransacked.
He made his way to her bedroom, where he discovered Dinool bound to her bed, and her hands and feet tied with telephone cables. Her mouth was also gagged.
