Two inmates of the New Amsterdam Prison will be charged with the murder of fellow inmate Sebastian Cleto, who died days after being severely beaten.
Cleto’s family, meanwhile, yesterday criticised the court system for delaying his case and the prison authorities for not detecting the weapons used to inflict the fatal blows.
A senior police officer told Stabroek News that the two suspects were taken to the Central Police Station at New Amsterdam for questioning yesterday morning. They were returned to the prison later in the day.
According to the officer, a murder charge will be instituted against the two; Raymond La Fleur, who is on remand for robbery under arms; and Davendra Harrychand, who is accused of larceny. They are to be charged before the end of the week.
This newspaper was told that Cleto, 22, who was on remand for the July 20 murder of Nizamudeen Khan, a security guard attached to a Rosignol sawmill, was asleep when he and a fellow inmate, Andy Adonis, were attack last Wednesday. Cleto and Adonis were jointly charged with murdering Khan. Their assailants were allegedly armed with iron bars and pieces of wood.
An aunt of Cleto, Maureen, recalled that last Wednesday afternoon she received a telephone call from a prison warden who informed her that Cleto, who is originally from the North West District, was injured.
The official, she said, told her that Cleto was being transferred from the New Amsterdam Hospital to Georgetown Hospital and that someone should reach him there.
The distraught woman, who lives in the city, said that she found her nephew, who was unconscious, with his head heavily bandaged. He was receiving saline. “He didn’t talkin’ or nothing and they still had handcuff pun he,” she said, shaking her head.
50/50
She said that Cleto was admitted to Intensive Care Unit and she had to return later to sign a consent form for an emergency surgery to be performed. She said that from the beginning, the doctor told her that he had a 50/50 chance at survival since “he brain damage bad.”
Maureen told this newspaper that the prison official who accompanied Cleto to the city said that “there was a fight in the prison and a prisoner lash he in his head.” No further information was provided, she said.
The woman said that he sustained a long gash to the side of his head.
Things took a turn for the worse on Sunday, she said. Maureen recalled that the hospital called and said that someone should visit immediately. She said that already suspecting the worst, she went to the hospital, where the body had already been wrapped.
According to Maureen, she last spoke with Cleto the day before the incident, when he called her from prison. She said that was a usual thing between them. She recalled them talking about Easter celebrations and she later asked how he was doing. “He seh he deh hey trying and he ben laughing,” she said, noting that he was his usual jovial self. At no time, she said, had he expressed any fear of fellow prisoners to her.
“I am shocked at the circumstances under which he died because the last time I spoke to him he was so healthy and strong and everything,” Maureen said.
She said that yesterday she visited Prisons Director Dale Erskine, who told her that three prisoners attacked her nephew and his friend. They hit Cleto on his head. The woman said that Erskine did not tell her what was used to inflict the injuries but she has since received conflicting reports of what transpired that day. She said that the prison head promised a full investigation into the incident before pledging that the Prison Service will help the family with the burial costs.
An upset Maureen said that the issue of weapons in the prison needs to be urgently addressed, especially since this is not the first time a prisoner has been killed. She opined that had weapons not been in the possession of the prisoners, her nephew would have been alive today.
Frustrated
Cleto’s mother, Margaret, who arrived in the city from North West on Sunday, was also very distraught. The woman said that she wants “to see justice and a full investigation into the matter.” She also pleaded with the relevant authorities to investigate how the prisoners came to be in the possession of iron bars and wood. The emotional woman said that she last spoke to her son sometime before Christmas last year, when she visited the prison. She said Cleto looked healthy.
Margaret said that her son had become frustrated at the length of time he was incarcerated, with his case not being tried. She said that she attended the Blairmont Magistrates’ Court on several occasions and the matter was repeatedly deferred since there were no eyewitnesses present. She said that every month Cleto went to court only to be given a new date. “You see, if we had money, we would have been able to get a lawyer and this case woulda try more quick. He woulda already come out from there,” she said.
The woman recalled that Cleto had called her, venting his frustrations with the delays. She said that he told her that he wanted to confess, since he was fed up of just going to court all the time. According to Margaret, he probably decided against this since he was drunk when the fatal incident occurred and could not remember what happened.
The woman said that initially five persons, including Cleto and his friend, were arrested.
According to reports, the accused were employed at the sawmill and they also resided in its compound. They had gone out to celebrate a colleague’s birthday and returned after 9 pm and demanded that Khan open the gate. Khan was said to have refused and when he finally agreed the men entered and allegedly dealt him several blows about the body with pieces of wood.
Khan was rushed to the Fort Wellington Hospital and later transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he died a few days later while undergoing treatment.
Meanwhile, relatives told this newspaper that Cleto came to the city at the age of 15, to work so that he could help his mother take care of his eight siblings. He was the second eldest child.
Maureen said that due to financial constrains, her children had to remain in the North West, since it costs $16, 000 one way to travel to the city. According to the woman, her children will have to miss the funeral which will take place on Friday at the Sandy’s Funeral Home. She said that her son was always very helpful to her.
