The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) has condemned the recent dismissal of a court case against two policemen for the torture of a 15-year-old boy.
GHRA, in a statement issued yesterday, stressed its condemnation of the “collapse” of the Preliminary Inquiry against Constable Mohanram Dolai and Sergeant Narine Lall, accused of torturing the teen while he was in police custody in October 2009.
The case was dismissed last Friday by Magistrate Nyasha William-Hatmin at the Vreed-en-Hoop Magistrates’ Court after witnesses failed to attend court. The family of teen reportedly “settled the matter” for a sum of money. “The magistrate,” GHRA said, “was forced to recently dismiss the charges following repeated failure by either of the victims – the boy and another man – to appear as witnesses in court.” It further said that the “inability of the administration of justice to afford any satisfaction either to the specific individuals who suffered in a particularly sadistic way or to re-assure an outraged society that such brutality will not be tolerated, is a depressing reflection on the state of law and order in Guyana.”
In recent times, the human rights organisation said, no case has generated such universal disgust and it believes that the “details of the case are beyond dispute.”
Dolai and Lall were charged based on advice given by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) after reviewing a report from an investigation by the police force’s Office of Professional Responsibilities (OPR). The OPR investigation had found that the men tortured the youth by harming him bodily and by pouring flammable liquid on his genitals and setting them alight. Following the investigation the then Commander of D Division Paulette Morrison was transferred and demoted.
Dolai, Lall and Corporal Oswald Foo were charged and the police surgeon Mahendra Chand was disciplined.
Despite much-publicized judicial reform, GHRA further noted, the fact that the tortured teen case was dismissed highlights that critical elements of the justice system, such as the presence of witnesses in court, are not assured. Delays in trials and constant postponements, GHRA said, leave too many cases vulnerable to interference. The Guyana Police Force (GPF), it further said, must accept a large measure of responsibility for the state of the justice system as well since it was police who failed to produce witnesses in court.
The organisation further stated:”The conspicuous silence of the Commissioner of Police (Henry Greene) following the dismissal of the case reinforces the perception that the Force is not disturbed by this outcome.” It was also noted in the GHRA statement that the Disciplined Forces Commission of Inquiry was convened in 2003 to examine the operations and structure of the GPF more so than the other Disciplined Services.
