19-year-old Corentyne robbery accused says he was tortured

Mar 18, 2014 News

The father of a 19-year-old multiple robbery accused is sparing no effort to see that he gets justice for the brutal beating his son allegedly received at the hands of police ranks who arrested him a month ago.
Once again the word torture is being associated with the police. This time around, the victim, Kishan Hemnauth, of Lot 160 Section ‘B’ Number 65 Village, Corentyne is telling a tale so horrifying that previous allegations of police brutality pale in comparison.
Hemnauth, who is facing six charges of robbery under arms, was picked up by police last month, a suspect in a spate of robberies in the Corentyne area.

Robbery accused Kishan Hemnauth

He spoke of being suffocated, thrown into a trench, beaten with batons before being dumped into a dark cell, despite his obvious critical condition by overzealous cops who were angry over the full scale removal of their colleagues from the Number 51 Police Station.
Thanks to medical intervention, he survived to tell his story, having secured bail in the High Court.
Hemnauth recalled that on the morning of February 20, last, around 08:00 hours, he was attending to his father’s cows in their yard when a group of heavily armed police ranks barged in.
“Dey surround me and dem dey scramble me. Dey say is me dey come for. Dey run in de house, shove me mammy to de side; me nah know wha dem ah look for and then dem come out back and carry me way. Dem carry me ah (Number) 51. Dem nah tell me nothing. Some policeman story dem talking bout, how dem police dem get transfer and dem gat to get back dem police to dem righted spot,” Hemnauth told this newspaper.
That was only the beginning of his ordeal.
At the Number 51 Police Station, Hemnauth was made to kneel on the floor after he could not tell the police what they wanted to hear. They wanted to know what Hemnauth knew about the gang that was committing the robberies.
From the Number 51 Station, the police drove him to the Divisional Headquarters at New Amsterdam where the alleged torture commenced.
“Dem beat me up li’l bit deh, cuff up and thing and then dem carry me at a station in Canje Road…Dem sehe they coming back fuh me later.”
The ranks did return around 19:00 hours that night and took Hemnauth in handcuffs back to the Central Police Station in New Amsterdam.
There they placed a plastic bag over his head and started to cuff him about his body. According to the young man the police took a piece of wood and lashed him on his shoulders before ordering him to walk and jump into their jeep. It was night and the already badly injured Hemnauth had no idea where they were taking him.
He said that he honestly thought that they were done with beating him and were taking him back to the Number 51 Police Station where they would eventually release him. He was wrong.
Since he was lying face down in the jeep he got the shock of his life when he eventually got a chance to get up and see where he was taken.
“When I come from de van now, I see a canefield.”
He explained that while handcuffed with his hands behind his back, two of the ranks held on to his feet and lowered his head into the trench. This was the local equivalent of waterboarding. This they did several times.
“While me in de trench, me feeling sick. When dem tek me out and me lie down pon de dam, one ah dem start fuh jump up pon me stomach. Me nah able breathe, I start fuh vomit out water,” he stated.
Hemnauth told this newspaper that the ordeal continued with the ranks tying a piece of wire to his pants waist and this time throwing him into the trench.
Weak and still handcuffed, he was unable to help himself and he started to ingest a substantial amount of water.
Eventually he was pulled back on to land by the ranks who now started to beat him with a rubber hose.
It was not enough for the ranks, who took him to the front of their vehicle and discharged a round from a gun close to his ear.
“Me hear when one ah dem ask de other one if he get rounds fuh put back, if he walk with extra. Then dem tell me dat dah one miss me and de next one going to me head. Dem kick me back again overboard and then tek me out.”
Hemnauth said that he became so weak that he started to tremble and still the ranks did not tell him about the robbery allegations.
“Me ah loss me vision and everything get shaky, if me stand up. Me just walking and drop,” he stated.
Eventually he was taken back to Central Police Station where he again had to endure the plastic bag over his head.
“Me ask den wha dem beating me for and they say ‘you gon know’. All I tellin myself, ah gon dead now.”
Eventually he was placed into the lock-ups at the police station at Canje where he remained until his father and lawyer visited him.
“When I go in de cell, other people been in deh but I go in a corner and lie down. Is de fuss time I get lock-up. I go in a corner and fold up a cry,” Hemnauth recalled.
The following day he managed raise his shirt to show his father and his attorney his battered body. Of course this angered the police.
He was promised release after 72 hours but this did not happen.
He recalled that one night while he was in the lock-ups before he was taken to court, the police came for him but they were prevented from taking him out, thanks to the human feces that had piled up in the cell.
Hemnauth explained that another prisoner who was in sympathy with him, pushed his hand into the toilet bowl and threatened to throw the contents he had pulled up on anyone who dared to take the youth out of the cell.
“He tell dem he gon shy s…t, and dem can’t come and tek out nobody from in hey tonight. Dem run and dem lock back de door,” Hemnauth said.
He was denied medical attention. It was not until he was taken before the court that an order was made for him to see a doctor.
He sustained a suspected broken rib. Although the marks have begun to pale, this newspaper observed signs of a brutal physical assault on Hemnauth’s body.
A complaint has since been lodged with the Police Complaints Authority as well as the Police Office of Professional Responsibility.
Hemnauth told this newspaper that he could recognize the ranks who allegedly tortured him.
On February 25, he appeared before Magistrate Rabindranauth Singh at the Whim Magistrate’s Court, and was not required to plead to the charges.
The charges read that Hemnauth on December 30, last while in the company of others and armed with dangerous and offensive weapons—guns, knives and cutlasses at No 56 village Corentyne, robbed Chinese national Zhuoxing Su, Chandee Jagdeo and Kemrai Dindiyal all of No 56 village.
During the heist, Hemnauth is accused of robbing Su of one laptop computer valued $120,000; one phone valued at $200,000 and $92,000 in local Currency.
During the robbery Jagdeo lost one cellular phone valued $10,000, phone cards to the value of $62,000 and $35,000 cash Guyana currency; Dindiyal was robbed of a cellular phone valued at $40,000.
Another charge read on Thursday January 24, last at No 47 village, Corentyne, he robbed Dhanranjie Seenauth of $270,000 and Mark Fernandes one sliver chain worth $4,000 a silver ring valued at $6,000 and a silver hand band valued $2,500.
The man is also accused of robbing Vimlawatie Ramdeen of $32,000 Guyana currency, a pair of gold bangles valued $18,000, two gold rings value $40,000, a gold chain costing $20,000 and a gold ring worth $10,000 on January 24, last.