Court orders investigation into violence, sex allegations
SIX men were, on Tuesday, remanded to prison by Acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry, on several armed robbery charges.
Rakesh Shaw, Mervin Blackman, Kevin October, Ivan Browne, Stanley Gautier and Jude Bushly (no addresses given) were jointly charged indictably.
Particulars of the offences said:
* on August 31, at Number 54 Village, Corentyne. Berbice, being armed with guns, they robbed Deodat Sanichar of $900 and a watch valued at $1,000;
* the same day, they robbed Sanichar and Clarence Carrington of $143,400, property of Number 54 Village Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) and
* the same day, they robbed Clarence Carrington of $960 and two cell phones valued at $14,500.
All the accused also, together, faced joint robbery under arms charges which stated that:
* on August 25, at Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara, they robbed Bobby Belem of a quantity of items valued $94,270 property of Sheldon Mc Pherson;
* on the same day and place, they robbed Belem of clothing worth $28,000 and one bag valued $2,000 and
* the same day, they robbed Belem of one weeding machine priced at $200,000 and other items valued at a total $855,000 property of the Beterverwagting NDC.  Blackman alone faced one break and enter charge, which stated that, between April 5 and 6, he broke and entered the Beterverwagting Post Office and stole $5.7M, phone cards valued $2,600 and stamps worth a total of $728,000.
October was charged, separately, with having, between July 15 and 16, broken and entered the bond of Bashir Mohamed and stole a motor car priced at $2M, property of Susan Weekes.
Defence counsel Randolph Kirton, representing Browne, told the court that the police cut his hair and beat him to indulge in oral and anal intercourse with a co-accused.
The lawyer said the police’s conduct is beyond the deprivation of human rights and Browne was not given an opportunity to read the statement  before signing it.
Mr. Kirton disclosed that Browne was previously arrested on several occasions, prosecuted and acquitted.
Other attorney-at-law, Mr. George Thomas, for Shaw, alleged that the latter was also beaten and threatened that he would have to perform oral sex if he refused to sign a document.
Thomas also requested that the magistrate make notes of injuries suffered by Gautier and Bushly.
The magistrate noted the alleged brutality and asked the police prosecutor to take steps towards an investigation. But the applications for bail were refused and the cases were transferred to three different courts.
The alleged offences committed in Berbice, were transferred to the Number 54 Court for September 12 and those on the East Coast Demerara were transferred to the Vigilance and Sparendaam courts for September 8 and 9, respectively.