Probe into teen’s torture completed -report sent to 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.