After recently winning millions in a judgment against the Guyana Police Force after the unlawful arrest of him and other members of his family, a youth is hoping that the case inspires others to go to the law to ensure that law enforcers are aware that they have to account for their actions.
“I really hope more cases like this are brought to the judiciary to have the police know that at the end of the day there is a greater authority out there that they will have to answer to. They have a duty to serve and protect, not overstep,” Shaquille Fausette, 21, told Stabroek Weekend.
Fausette, his then five-year-old brother and their father and uncle, sued the Attorney General, the Commissioner of Police and ranks while arguing that the police had unlawfully and unjustifiably arrested them. According to the court submissions for the case, the family was stopped on January 30th, 2018, searched and detained for hours despite their being no evidence they had broken any laws.
Through their attorney, Anastasia Sanford, they sought aggravated/exemplary damages in excess of $10 million for false imprisonment and a declaration that their fundamental rights guaranteed by Articles 139(1), 141 and 142 the Constitution were violated. They also sought damages for wrongful deprivation of liberty, unlawful deprivation of property and inhuman and degrading punishment.
Earlier this month, Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry awarded them a total of $10.5 million in damages.
Speaking on the experience, Fausette, now a law student who expects to graduate next year, said it was “truly a life changing experience from start to finish.”
“It has shown me the many flaws with law enforcement and has sparked a passion in me and created a great desire to complete my law studies so that I could be in a position to assist those who might have experienced a similar injustice,” the youth told this newspaper.
Fausette says their ordeal began after his father accompanied him to pay for his law exams, picked up his younger brother from his school and visited a store on Robb Street before driving to a family friend and then headed home.
The police would later claim that during the Robb Street stop they behaved “suspiciously” in the vicinity of a local bank but according to the young man this was never mentioned when they were stopped.
“When they stopped us they claimed it was a normal stop and search. Then when they searched our family friend’s home they claimed they were looking for drugs and then they claimed we were observed acting in a suspicious manner,” he related.
Acting in a “suspicious” manner in this area drew attention, they claimed, because there had been several instances of “trunking” in the area as well as case of persons being “traced” from the bank and robbed.
Throughout the ordeal, Fausette recorded several instances of procedural irregularities and outright abuses.
“We were searched and nothing was found, but yet upon entering the station the policewoman at the desk came to me with the station book and asked me to sign. I asked what I was signing to and she said that a search was conducted and nothing was found, upon reading the charge in the book it said ‘possession of narcotics’, when I objected to signing I was told I was stupid and making matters worse for myself,” he related.
Additionally, while there were several police officers present, none would allow him to make his legally allowed call to his attorney.
“They said nobody at the station has credit to waste. That day I paid one officer $2,000 for a bottle of water and $4,000 for a phone call to enjoy my fundamental right to legal counsel,” he shared.
The most egregious abuse, however, came after a detective threatened his life.
Fausette notes that one detective, who has been identified in other cases of abuse, actually told him he would kill him.
“Duh is how y’all body does get find and ya murder does be a mystery. If I ever see you down the road I’m going to bore you up or chop yuh sk#*+ up, is cutlass I does roll with. You lucky me ain’t had lil drugs fuh plant in ya house and loss you away in prison fuh life,” he allegedly told the teen.
He said the same officer later directed that he be paraded in front of his school before being placed in the “stinkest lock up” at the Diamond Police Station.
Asked how he felt at that moment, Fausette said he was shocked but didn’t initially take it serious.
“I took a while to react and when I appeared unfazed he said they are the police and got all the power. In that moment all I could think was ‘this is crazy,’” he said.
Asked if he believed it, Fausette said yes. “I believed it. I believed him that he had the power to kill me and get away with it. I felt greatly threatened,” he related.
He lamented the fact that the experience of his family was not unique. During their detention, they met another prisoner who had been in the lockups for four days with no charge. He had also not be afforded his right to a phone call to his family, with the police continuously demanding that he shut up.
“It was clear to me that many people are deprived of their fundamental rights and the police trample on the fact that nobody takes serious action against them,” Fausette shared.
He added that even with the court’s recent ruling, there is no evidence that the officers who abused his family have been sanctioned.
“I passed the station about a month ago and he [the rank who threatened him] is still right there,” he said.
Asked if his experience has affected his trust in the police, Fausette said he has no trust in the force.
“You could try call them if somebody in your yard and hope they show up but don’t expect proper investigations or anything else. They will not protect and serve,” he lamented.
The lack of investigative powers was for Fausette made clear when he, as a condition of his bail, returned to the police station to sign the station book.
“I went back and while signing this book this Officer walks up and says he’s in charge of the operation. He was boasting about this great operation he had developed which led to so many persons being arrested. When I said that the operation was obviously flawed he was surprised. Surprised!!” Fausette lamented.
He added that he was forced to slowly explain that the operation had led to the arrest of his family, who were not guilty of any offence.
“I just couldn’t understand it,” he said.
Two years later his family is moving forward slowly.
“At one point my brother was really shaken up…He would ask if the police were the bad guys and he would be afraid to drive through the road blocks but now he’s better and my father is better too,” he said. `
