LBI man succumbs to injuries sustained in police custody

Dead: Kallicharran Sawak
Dead: Kallicharran Sawak

Kallicharran Sawak, the La Bonne Intention (LBI) man who was hospitalised after days in police custody, succumbed on Monday evening at the Georgetown Public Hospital.

Shavani Sawak yesterday confirmed the death of her brother, who died around 7.45 pm on Monday.

‘C’ Division Commander Calvin Brutus told Stabroek News that the investigation that was launched by him has been handed over to the Office of Professional Responsibility. He noted that they are awaiting the results from an autopsy planned for today to determine the way forward in the investigation.

Sawak, 39, called ‘Danny,’ of Lot 3 LBI, East Coast Demerara, was taken into police custody after he was misbehaving while he was drunk.

His sister had explained that he was arrested on January 17th and was being held at the Sparendaam Police Station until his court hearing. It was while waiting for his case to be called that his family learnt that he was hospitalised last Tuesday.

At the station, his sister was told that Sawak was in a critical state after he sustained injuries that were self-inflicted.

“We don’t know what happen, but we need answers… nobody can give account for what happened while he was at the station,” the distraught sister said as she fought back tears last week.

“We just wanted some peace. Look how a small thing turn so big now. We never expected this,” she lamented when she spoke to this newspaper yesterday.

From visits to the hospital, she had said, they learnt he was bleeding from his eyes and ears and there was swelling of his brain. They too are awaiting the report from the post-mortem examination on what caused his death.

Kallicharran, a father of one, remained unconsciousness up to the time his death.