A POST-Mortem done by Pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh Wednesday on the body of 36-year-old Roy Bovell of Tabatinga, Lethem has given the cause of his death as asphyxiation due to hanging.The late Roy Bovell was found hanging in the lock-ups at the Lethem Police Station on April 12, 2015. He had been in custody in a matter that was under investigation.

The Police Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) is investigating Bovell’s death.

POLICE PRESSER
A police press release has said that at about 08:00 hrs on April 12, 2015, the body of Roy Bovell of Tabatinga, Lethem, who was in custody at the Lethem Police Station, was found hanging from the grillwork of the station lock-ups.

The release added that when the police had visited the lock-ups at 06:15 hrs that day, Bovell was alive and well.

Roy Bovell was the only prisoner in the lock-ups at the time. He had been arrested at Tabatinga at about 19:45 hrs on April 11, after he was found in possession of 60 grammes of cannabis sativa (marijuana).
PRECEDENT
When 28-year-old Zaharadeen Razan of Cornelia Ida, WCD was found dead in the Parika Police Station lockups on February 25 last, the police OPR had similarly investigated the incident.

Police had reported that Razan had been alive but was lying on the floor of the lock-ups when ranks had earlier visited the lock-ups. After other prisoners in the lock-ups had been questioned, Razan had been taken for medical treatment at the Leonora Cottage Hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival there.

It was noted that Razan had been arrested and taken into custody at about 21:10hrs on February 24, following a report of damage to property made against him.

A few years ago, another prisoner had been found dead in the lockups at the police station at La Grange, West Bank Demerara. (Michel Outridge)