The police’s actions towards five men held on suspicion of being involved in a crime were on Tuesday described as unprofessional by two lawyers, who said they were denied access to their clients without proper explanation.
Gino Persaud and Euclin Gomes said during a press conference that their efforts to ascertain the reason for the arrest and detention of five persons last Sunday were met “with stony silence and whispers of the men being involved in robbery under arms”.
Repeated efforts by Stabroek News yesterday to get a comment from the police on this matter were unsuccessful.
Four of the five men, who were present at the press conference held at the Ram and McRae Office in Waterloo Street, told members of the media, that they were afraid for their safety as this was the first time they had been in such a situation.
The men contended that they had done nothing wrong and were appalled at the treatment they received at the hands of the police.
On Sunday, members of a police patrol stopped the car in which Adrian Gordon, Bruce Connell, Fitzroy James, Ashton Corbin and Gavin Primo were travelling, in the vicinity of GPL on Main Street.
The men, in a joint statement, said the police searched their person and the vehicle they were in without offering them any explanation. According to the statement, a police officer then said that someone had made a report that they had stopped in the vicinity of Nandy Park, East Bank Demerara. But the men informed the officer that they had stopped in that area to drink some water. They were subsequently taken to CID Headquarters, Eve Leary, where Gordon fell to the ground unconscious.
The statement said he remained on the ground for about 20 minutes and it was only when his lawyer arrived that the police sent for an ambulance. Later that evening, the statement said, the men were asked to have their photographs taken with a number and the letters “RUA” (robbery under arms). They were later taken to the Brickdam Police Station lock-ups. While they were being booked there, the men asked the officer the reason and he replied “robbery under arms”. Expressing shock at the allegation and the whole experience they were forced to endure, the men said in the statement: “We are extremely traumatized by this incident and wonder is it so easy for the police to arrest and put people in the lock-ups without a reasonable explanation and then to further humiliate our good names, reputation and integrity by suggesting that we were guilty of robbery under arms.”
The men were released from custody at 5 pm on Monday.
Meanwhile, their lawyers in their statement said the men were exercising their freedom of movement and their arrests and “false imprisonment” for close to 24 hours were unlawful and in breach of the Constitution.
Reading from a prepared statement, Persaud said when Gomes went to Brickdam to enquire about Gordon “he was rudely evicted by Superintendent Griffith who told him he had to come back anytime between 8 am and 4 pm,” adding that when he went the next morning to see the men he was told that he could not do so unless headquarters had given permission.
“The failure of the police to tell the men of the reason for their arrests, the eviction of their legal advisor on Sunday evening and the delayed access to their attorney on Monday were flagrant breaches of their fundamental rights…,” Persaud read.
The statement added that law enforcement agencies must understand that unlawful and heavy-handed action only serves to alienate the populace and detract from the pursuit of those bent on causing mayhem in the country.
Responding to questions from members of the media, Gomes said the police only called for an ambulance for Gordon after he threatened to take photographs adding that the behaviour of the police during the incident was very unprofessional.
He added that this matter ought to be taken seriously and they will be engaging the Guyana Bar Association on it.
The lawyer told the media that the police are obligated to tell citizens and their attorneys-at-law why they are being arrested.
