COLWYN Harding, the young man who alleged that he was brutally baton-raped and otherwise assaulted by two police officers while in custody in 2013, on Friday had his case adjourned until July 24,2015, after Prosecutor, Attorney at Law Nigel Hughes failed to appear at the Providence Magistrates’ Court on the second day of the trial. Hughes, who was appointed by the director of public prosecutions (DPP)as a prosecutor through the means of a “Fiat,” rather than a state prosecutor assigned in the matter.
On Friday, the matter was called twice and had to be stood down because the prosecution had not arrived although the victim, lawyers and the defendant were ready to begin. However, at noon as the court room was tense, Attorney-at-Law Leslie Sobers, representing the female police officer Roselle Tilbury- Douglas, addressed the court and remarked that “Hughes’s lateness has become a burden when one has to wait in ignorance.” Mr Glenn Hanoman, representing constable Devin Singh made an application for dismissal of the matter in the absence of the prosecution. However, the magistrate rejected the application.
Nevertheless, both lawyers jointly requested that the matter be withdrawn if the prosecutor fails to appear again. The magistrate then adjourned the matter again for Friday,July 24 at 10:30hrs.
When the case was first called on June 27, the magistrate was ready to adjourn when the Prosecutor Hughes arrived late.
Then,Harding had taken the stand and testified, However, the trial had to be adjourned because of his emotional break-down. Before breaking down, Harding had testified that the police had gone to his home on November 15,2013 with his girlfriend, Tenisha Evans, in a house at Timehri and kicked down his back door. Harding said Constable Singh handcuffed him and dragged him into the bedroom, while the other officers continued to search the said house
Singh, Harding had noted, became annoyed when he denied being a member of the notorious “Hot Skull’ gang by the said officer. Singh,he said, began to beat him and when he tried to scream the constable gagged him with his underwear and continued to beat him.
The witness explained that he was then dragged into the kitchen, where he was further interrogated and brutally beaten by the said officer, causing him to fall to his knees.
Police Constables Devin Singh, of Lot 125 Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara, and Roselle Tilbury-Douglas of Alliance Road, Timehri, East Bank Demerara, have been jointly charged with assaulting Harding during the period November 1 to November 13, 2013, at the Timehri Police Station, so as to cause him actual bodily harm. Devin Singh was also slapped with an additional assault charge, separately.
According to reports, the two police officers who were based at the Timehri Police Station, pushed a condom-covered baton up Harding’s anus in November, 2013. Harding, who was at the time a prisoner on remand for allegedly assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest, had suffered a ruptured intestine. Harding later underwent two private examinations, one at a private hospital here and the other in Jamaica and the conclusion from both examinations was that a foreign object had been inserted into his anus.