Latest update November 21st, 2024 1:00 AM
Brickdam lockups death…
Mentally ill prisoner was badly beaten
– sustained head injuries, broken breast-bone, ruptured spleen
Mentally ill prisoner James Nelson died in the Brickdam Police Station lockups after a brutal beating left him with a broken breast-bone and a ruptured spleen.
Dead: James Nelson
This was revealed yesterday during an autopsy, which also showed that the 47-year-old mason from Stanleytown, West Bank Demerara sustained head injuries, although these may have been self-inflicted.
According to a police official, Government Pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh stated that someone had apparently kicked Nelson in the chest, fracturing his sternum (a bone in the centre of the chest).
A bruise that looked like a boot-print was visible on Nelson’s chest during the autopsy, the official said.
Nelson’s spleen was also ruptured by a heavy blow, the official said.
He added that in the opinion of the pathologist, Nelson could have inflicted the head injuries on himself after becoming delirious with pain from the other injuries that were inflicted on him.
Death was due to haemorrhage and shock.
Police say that it is unclear whether Nelson sustained the injuries during his arrest outside the Ministry of Home Affairs, or at the Brickdam Police Station, where he was detained.
According to a police statement, Nelson was arrested at around 10:00hrs on Monday, after he had entered the compound of the Ministry of Home Affairs and had begun behaving disorderly.
The statement said that Nelson alleged that a contractor owed him a sum of money and had sent him off the job.
An on-duty Special Constabulary rank spoke to Nelson, but he continued to behave in a disorderly manner and had to be restrained, the statement said.
The rank subsequently arrested Nelson and handed him over to a police patrol, which took Nelson to the Brickdam Police Station. Nelson was placed in the lockups with 20 other prisoners.
It is alleged that at about 06:30hrs on Tuesday, police ranks, acting on information, entered the lockups and found James Nelson lying motionless in his cell.
He was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), where he was pronounced dead on arrival. An examination of the body revealed a bruise over his right eye and a small cut over the left eye.
According to the release, other prisoners told the police that they saw Nelson banging his head against the wall of the lockups on Monday night.
Nelson’s relatives have insisted that he was the victim of foul play.
Nelson’s wife, Gloria, told Kaieteur News that the man was a mason by profession, and had recently worked on a fence at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
He had also served in the Guyana Defence Force several years ago, and had fathered two children.
Gloria Nelson told Kaieteur News that her husband, from whom she is separated, was a psychiatric patient at the GPHC.
Relatives say that Nelson disappeared last week Friday, and they attempted to find him, so that he could be treated.
They said that, early Tuesday morning, one of Nelson’s sons was informed that his father was in the Brickdam Police Station lockups.
Shortly after, someone informed the same son that his father was dead.
The relatives complained that, when they arrived at the Brickdam Police Station, police ranks took statements from them and they were reassured that they would be allowed to see Nelson’s body, in order to confirm his identity.
However, they allege that when a hearse arrived, the police ranks refused to allow them to view the body and ordered them out of the compound.
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