Given recent well publicized incidents, police
ranks would most likely have been more circumspect
when dealing with prisoners. Try as they might to
avoid negative publicity, however, there has been
another allegation of brutality.
With bruises on his back, arms and shoulders,
24-year-old Jagernauth Ramgobin of Riverview,
Unity, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara, claims he was
badly beaten by two police ranks when they
arrested him on Tuesday night.
Ramgobin, a fisherman, spent a night in the
lock-ups at the Mahaica Police Station and
immediately contacted this newspaper upon his
release on Wednesday afternoon.
He has also visited the police’s Office of
Professional Responsibility.
But the police at Mahaica have disputed
Ramgobin’s account of what transpired and
accused him of fabricating a story to make the
force look bad.
Ramgobin related that he was dragged from his home
and beaten, placed into a car trunk, taken to the
station where he was again beaten and forced to
sign a statement.
Ramgobin’s arrest reportedly stemmed from a
problem his brother had with another villager.
According to the fisherman, on Tuesday night his
brother had an argument with another man, during
which his brother struck the man with a piece of
wood and ran away.
Ramgobin opined that the police, having not been
able to arrest his brother, decided to take him
into custody instead.
He related that the two policemen barged into his
house and grabbed him, and without telling him the
reason for their actions, they dragged him
downstairs towards their vehicle, beating him
about his body in the process.
“They put me in de trunk and drive off. Then
dey stop and tek me out and beat me again. I ask
dem wha dey beating me fuh and dem ain’t tellin
me nothing, but dey lash me in me head with a
baton,” Ramgobin said.
At the station, Ramgobin was thrown into the
lock-ups.
He also alleged that a senior rank enquired from
the two policemen why he was being beaten, and
that they told the officer that he assaulted them
and tried to escape while being brought to the
station.
“Me ain’t know how me can assault two
policeman,” Ramgobin said.
He stated that the ranks wrote out a statement and
gave it to him to sign, and when he refused to do
so, he was beaten again.
“Me can’t read and write so me nah even know
wha me sign,” Ramgobin told Kaieteur News.
The man said that after signing the statement he
was kept in custody for the rest of Tuesday night
and then sent on station bail, without charge late
Wednesday afternoon.
When contacted yesterday, police at the Mahaica
Station said that Ramgobin’s wounds were not
inflicted by the ranks that arrested him.
A source at Mahaica told this newspaper that
contrary to what Ramgobin is saying, it was he who
was involved in the fight with the other man.
The police are certain that he sustained the
injuries during the fight.
“The Sergeant was there when he was arrested and
he did not mention anything to him. The corporal
who took over spoke to him and he did not say he
was beaten,” the source said.
Acting Divisional Commander Leroy Brumell said
that he was looking into the matter.
The allegation comes in the midst of the trial of
two policemen from the West Coast of Demerara who
are accused of torturing a 14-year-old boy who was
in police custody assisting with a murder probe.
