Police are being accused of trying to cover up the alleged torture of detainee Junior Thorrington, the 19-year-old who claims he was burnt by police officers while in custody at the Sparendaam Police Station.
Thorrington says lawmen soaked his hands with methylated spirits before lighting them on fire and then kept him in the lock-ups for three days before taking him to the hospital.
Thorrington, of Lot 1 Eastville, Annandale, East Coast Demerara, is now a patient in the Georgetown Public Hospital Burn Care Unit, while police have launched an internal investigation into his alleged torture. However, even before the announcement of the investigation, police allegedly attempted to get Thorrington to forego legal action by reportedly paying over $100,000 to a relative of the man.
Thorrington’s allegations, which recall the use of methylated spirits by police to burn the genitals of a 15-year-old detainee at the Leonora Police Station in 2009, are just the latest to be made against the police force, which has been trying to repair its public image under the tenure of new acting Commissioner Seelall Persaud in the face
