The Guyana Police Force has completed its investigations into the torture meted out to a 15-year-old boy at the Leonora Police Station, and has given the report to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, in a release issued last evening, said it had been told that the DPP has the file under active consideration and that the Police Force will be advised on the matter shortly.
“Following receipt of the advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Commissioner of Police will provide the Minister of Home Affairs with the Police Report and the Director of Public Prosecution’s advice which will eventually be made public in keeping with His Excellency’s public commitment,” the release said.
On November 5, President Bharrat Jagdeo announced that he had given the force two weeks to complete an investigation into the allegations, after which all the perpetrators will face the full consequences.
The President said that if the report did not satisfy him other options would be considered. He called for an “open investigation” and further said: “I think that we have to take the strongest possible action against all the perpetrators.” This action will not be limited to the direct participants, but all those involved will have “to bear some of the consequences,” Jagdeo added.
Meanwhile, the teen boy tortured by police is slowly recovering but is “frustrated” and wants the matter to end, his mother Shirley Thomas said.
“Every day he asking me, ‘mammy when this thing gon done?’”, the woman said. She took him to a private doctor yesterday where he underwent an x-ray because his back was hurting. She was told that the pain was because of a severe blow he had received in his back and he was given some pain tablets. His burns were also looked at and they are healing, the woman said.
The teen was discharged from the hospital last week and Thomas stated that they were finding it difficult to cope. She explained that because of their visits to the hospital, among things, she was only able to work once a week. Thomas is a domestic worker.
Noting that she has other children to look after and she has to get special food like soup for her son since he is still recuperating, she said they are finding it difficult to cope. She said that she was grateful for the help she had received from persons.
Meantime, Thomas thanked the person who took the photo of her son which was published on the front page of the Kaieteur News. “Thank God for that. If the person din do it, he woulda been a dead child,” she stated. She said her son was in too much pain to notice who took out the photo. She was of the opinion that the person felt sorry for him and snapped the photograph to expose what was happening.
Meanwhile, up to yesterday, the police had not contacted them again about an identification parade after one was aborted this week because of the absence of their lawyer, Khemraj Ramjattan. Police Commissioner Henry Greene had said days after the incident was exposed that the culprits had not yet been identified by the teen and the investigators are working on that aspect of the case before bringing charges.
Yesterday, the teen’s stepfather, Doodnauth Jaikarran reiterated that his son would not go to the identification parade without his lawyer but they are not sure when he would be returning as he is out of the country. He said that the police had promised to contact them a day before the parade is scheduled to be held.
The teen was released from the Georgetown Public Hospital last week Friday, after spending 14 days there.
Two policemen, Sergeant Narine Lall and Constable Mohanram Dolai have been charged with wounding Deonarine Rafick and Nouravie Wilfred, two men who were held along with the boy. They are on bail and made their second appearance in court yesterday.
There were no charges in relation to the injuries the teen had sustained. Wilfred, Rafick and the teen had been arrested following the murder of retired Region Three vice-chairman Ramenauth Bisram. A wounded and battered Rafick has since been charged with the murder and remanded to prison, while Wilfred was released after having been in custody for a week.
Probe into whether TORTURE was committed upon a teen while in the custody of the PPP police is now completed says the government. LOL
Now, does anyone really need to hear a report completed by the PPP government on their credibility to know what it would say?
How can the TORTURE report be completed when the State police men who TORTURED the teen were not presented for his identification? This would be like selling a car with no engine and calling it a car.
bun boy story get push down from top spot lead story (wid photo) because more murders and slahing and ting tek it place.
Bismattie was thinking the same.How can the investigation be completed when the perpetrators are not known?Or are they.
DO you guys actually read the newspapers? If you did, u’d find somewhere in there that the names of the perpretrators. Anways i just hope that the mother just doesn’t relax while the teen is still in pain. She should make sure his excellency prompt the best doctors in the country ( or for the critics in this forum: the world) to make sure that teen is indeed fine becausse seems that the only thing the doctors in Guyana are good for is “given some pain tablets.”
I hope she will sue the GPF afterwards for torture and lack of prefessionalism. There is alot of monies to be made out of this case and that poor domestic woman can become a milionaire overnight if she plays the right cards.
What these bloggers should do in here is to encourage victims to sue instead of badmouthing the government. That’s the only way some real changes will happen in Guyana. For example, there was an incident a while ago where a man’s throat was slid and he was on the road clingining on for life and his relatives were pleading with the cops to take him to the hospital. That is the jackpot right there. See what I mean? When the top dog realizes that that the force is paying out millions in compensation that he will fire all the high school dropouts in the force and hire educated people to join the force. This will then bring a higher salary and the police force will be looked up upon, the morale will be uplifted and you will see the true professionalism of the force. Mind you that in the US, to become an officer, you must have some college cedits. I think 45 or so. or maybe u have to atleast have an associate. You do the homework.
Anyways back to the suing. If the fire was caused by a wire spark and the house burn down, sue GPL. If the fire service come late and then they couldn’t find water to douse the fire or there wasn’t 2 much pressure in the hose to send the water to the burning building because the hose had holes, sue the fire service. This is the only way the country will be put on track. Lets all sue and see how happier Guyana will be…
Mark my word, nothing is going to come out of this case, too much going around, especially with the ID parade. If there was no ID parade how come the file was sent to the DPP, so who they will charge, if no suspect has been identified??
ONLY IN GUYANA THESE THINGS HAPPEN, DO ANY THING AND GET OFF.
James, I posted comments to this effect as soon as the news came out about the teen’s TORTURE. I stated that the file will languish on someone’s desk collecting dust and this TORTURE will be swetp under the rug and disappear completely! Unless the UN and other world bodies hold this regime’s feet to the fire nothing will come of this TORTURE.
I was wondering that too, no one was identified, then what they need the DPP help for? This is like putting your donkey cart in reverse gear.
The run around has begun.
I am sure that this mother is happy to have her son alive. Indeed the person who took the picture should know that have done a good deed. We have to wonder if this 14 year would have been alive today is that picture that have him alive. Many were not as lucky as him were were beaten and died in prison
True true….I hope he recovers fully and can find the strength to move on with his life in a positive way and not let this make him a bitter and negative person. It will be hard indeed to stay positive, but I pray for his family and for his parents to give him all the support and love they can, times are hard already and dealing with this makes it even harder, but always remember GOD.
It is also sad that those policemen involved who have not been identified yet, are still working. It is of my opinion that they need to start hiring people who have graduated out of high school with passing grades, have them mentally evaluated before hiring them into such a position of authority. I know its probably impossible, but its worth given a moments thought of how much difference that is going to make. Don’t just call for them to be paid more and hoping it will make them do the work, it won’t work.
Dey still wukkin pon who gon be de scapegoat(s). Report may be available to de public when dat part is finalise!!!
Why should this child’s mother have to be complaining all the time; this is such crap. The Leonora police salaries should be doing everything to take care of his situation. This woman has had enough stress to be worrying about how she will get income, food, medication and medical supplies to take care of something that was NOT supposed to have happened.
The government is blatantly saying that Guyanese will tek whateva deh tell them, shut up and go back to their daily survival.
Dat ah why u leff?
Just an assumption.There is a possibility,that statements were given to the investigators,by witnesses to the torture.The child’s head was covered with a bag.There might have been “on-lookers”.You never know.The photographer,might have more pictures.Just a layman’s view.
BR summed it up correctly. No more comments needed.