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Soldier’s mother fears for his life

Aug 23, 2011 News

 

 
– accuses army of torturing her son

By Dale Andrews

The mother of a young soldier in the Guyana Defence Force has expressed concern for his safety following reports that he is being inhumanely treated while in custody at army headquarters, Camp Ayanganna.
Avril Haley told Kaieteur News that she has received reports that her son, private Dane Newton, was stripped, beaten and made to lie on a wet concrete floor for more than a day as punishment for reportedly refusing to perform guard duties.
This newspaper contacted the Guyana Defence Force for a comment on the matter and an official there indicated that the army would not be commenting on the matter since it was not in receipt of a formal complaint.
Haley had contacted this newspaper over the past weekend and indicated that she was reliably informed of the treatment meted out to her son.
The information, she said, was obtained from an officer at Camp Ayanganna who was upset by what he saw. The officer reportedly took photographs of the naked private with a sheet wrapped around his body.
Haley said that she is not sure what led to her son’s present position, but she believes that it has to do with a strained relationship between him and his immediate superior.
The woman told Kaieteur News that she learnt that her son had requested time off to visit her upon learning that she had injured her foot, but the request was denied.
According to Haley, her son allegedly objected to guard duty and was arrested by the army’s military police.
She said that her son was recently detained for 42 days after he reportedly threatened to shoot an officer apparently out of frustration of being constantly victimised.
“I worked there and there were times when I had to go to higher authorities to represent him against false allegations,” said an obviously disturbed Avril Haley.
She believes that her son’s troubles stem right back to 2008 when his cousin, prison inmate Edwin Niles was caught in the Georgetown Prison with a few rounds of ammunition in his pocket, hours after leaving the army headquarters work for the day.
He had claimed that he was unaware that the items were in a pair of pants that he had obtained from the location.
Niles was beaten to death by prison authorities and members of the GDF intelligence arm.
A post mortem confirmed that he suffered some amount of torture.
Haley said that during the investigation to determine how Niles got the ammunition, her son was arrested and locked up by army personnel after it was learnt that he was related to Niles.
Haley said that she fears for her son’s life, especially since she is constantly reminded of the fate that was meted out to her nephew Edwin Niles.
“If he does not leave the system soon, he will end up dead and I can’t wait for that,” Haley told Kaieteur News. She said that Newton had applied on several occasions to leave the army, but his requests were denied.
“Every time he apply for SOS, it is not being granted. If he get a stripe today, the next couple months he getting lock up for something, and he lose he stripe. He ain’t making progress in there,” Haley stated.
This is not the first time that the army has been accused of action that points to some amount of torture and it certainly is not the first time the allegation has come from a member of the organization.

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