Brutalised man still a prime suspect – Top Cop

Jul 25, 2009 News

---

Sources close to the matter of Troy Small, called Cats, who was brutalised by persons identified as wearing military uniform, are adamant that the beating/torture was not a police doing but that of Guyana Defence Force Ranks.

While the GDF chief could not be reached for a comment yesterday, Police Commissioner Henry Green did not deny or admit to these allegations but said the men who brought the young man to the police station “are investigators.”
The Commissioner said, too, that “He (Small) did say some things that have caused him to become a suspect and he still is a prime suspect.”
However, the man’s relatives said that any comments by the suspect would have been induced through violent torture and the man would have been made to say anything, even to the point of incriminating himself.
They said that surprisingly, since Small is a prime suspect, it is strange that he has not remained in custody.
Mayor Hamilton Green said that he knows Small as a labourer who has an impediment. He said that the man has the shakes. “Anyone who would recruit such a person to commit arson is either mentally ill, or stupid.”
Though the commissioner told this publication that he is not knowledgeable of all the events regarding Small, he did note that there is a “joint investigating team operating” and he opines that the ranks may have come from among that group.
The commissioner admitted that his ranks did question the man and also made allowance for his injuries to be treated but could not say how his injuries came about. “I don’t have those details,” he said.
Thus far the police have taken statements from Small, which the Commissioner told this publication, has caused Small to be a major suspect in the investigations.
Though a major suspect, the commissioner said at the moment Small has been released on bail and is not under police guard.
Commissioner Greene told this publication that the man had admitted to ranks his involvement but by the next day, denied any involvement in the fire when asked to write a statement.
When asked if Small’s statements would be treated as voluntary admission of guilt, the Commissioner said, “We don’t have any written statements, he did not commit it into writing. What was said was verbal.” And when asked if the statement was recorded the Commissioner said, “That was not recorded.”
Secretary of the Defence Board, Dr. Roger Luncheon, has said that he is expecting a report on the alleged torture of Small, a West Ruimveldt man, at the hands of members of the Guyana Defence Force.
Dr Luncheon made the announcement on Thursday at his weekly press briefing. On Sunday, Small was allegedly abducted by ranks of the GDF, and with half of his body hanging out of a car he was dragged for several miles from Mandela Avenue to the Le Repentir Cemetery where he was beaten with a hammer.
According to Dr. Luncheon, the issue was raised at a very important meeting and he was assured that a report would be provided as to the details of the allegations and findings.
Since the incident was revealed by this newspaper, both the Guyana Defence Force and the Guyana Police Force had remained silent on the matter until yesterday when the Police Commissioner made his comments.
Some senior officials of the police force have laid the blame squarely at the feet of the GDF, insisting that the army has no powers of arrest.
Small, the brutalised man told the media on Wednesday that he begged for his life and had told the men who abducted him that he had a child to live for.
He was eventually taken to a house where a bag was removed from his head and he observed several men.
“A man tell dem wha bring me, ‘y’all gone gat fuh carry dis man to de station and tell dem dat he and two man had a fight’ and that is how I get these injuries,” Small told this newspaper.
He said that that was the eventual report that the men gave to the police when he was finally taken to the police station.
This newspaper understands that Small was first taken to the headquarters of the Criminal Investigations Department and then to the Brickdam Police Station but officials at the latter refused to accept him in the condition that he was in.
He was eventually dumped at the Alberttown Police Station where he stayed until his eventual release.
On Wednesday, when this newspaper turned up at the Alberttown Police Station, Small was still lying on the bench although ranks there indicated that the man had been sent away.
Reporters from this newspaper and other media houses did not buy that and waited outside the station for several hours as the police played cat and mouse with the man’s release.
Family members are upset that Small was kept in that condition at the station for so long.
They said that had it not been for the media, Small may have been kept in custody until he could walk before he was released.
One family member even disclosed that the police had informed her not to engage the media.
Meanwhile, the badly injured Small who was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital on Wednesday afternoon around 17:45 hours, remained there untreated for three hours until his relatives took him away.
A relative told this newspaper that they had resorted to treating his injuries at home.
This newspaper understands that Small was taken to a private hospital where an X-ray was done on his ankles to determine if he had suffered any fracture.

---

---