-lawyer says he was on ‘lock down’

Twenty-one-year-old Rawle Franklin was granted bail in the sum of $50,000 when he appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson for allegedly wounding an inmate at the Camp Street prison in January  last year.

Franklin of Prince William Street, Plaisance, East Coast Demerara pleaded not guilty to the charge of unlawful wounding when he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

He denied that he unlawfully and maliciously wounded Richard Freezo, who was a fellow inmate at the time at the Camp Street prison on January 31 last year.

His lawyer Adrian Thompson stated that his client had been incarcerated for more than two years on an abduction charge and when the incident occurred he was in “lock down” (solitary confinement). He added that his client never had a confrontation with Freezo.

Thompson stated that the police could have brought his client to court since last year when the incident had occurred.

He applied for bail for Franklin on the grounds that he had been granted bail for the abduction and another matter recently.

Franklin then stated that on the day in question he had a confrontation with a man, not Freezo, and they both were placed in solitary confinement for twenty-eight days. He said that he had seven days of punishment and the last twenty-one as “non-association days”.

He said that the person who Freezo had the confrontation with was released from prison but was again incarcerated for another matter.

The prosecution stated that Freezo had sustained swollen arms and feet and injuries to his head and face as a result of being beaten with a wood. The magistrate subsequently placed Franklin on bail in the sum of $50,000 and ordered that he return to court on July 3.