Russian roulette by cop… Shot-in-mouth teen takes protest to Commissioner’s office

May 09, 2014 News

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Marcel Griffith, the mother of 15-year-old Alex Griffith who was shot in his mouth by a police Cadet Officer, has made it clear that she will not sit idly by and allow her son’s case to be stretched out like the one involving Colwyn Harding.
It’s been more than a week since her son was dragged from his home by a party of policemen headed by a Cadet Officer and taken to another location where a gun was placed in his mouth and a round discharged.
The bullet exited behind the teenager’s left ear. Fortunately it does not appear that it damaged any major organ in his head. The callous act described by the teenager was similar to Russian roulette.
Yesterday, the woman told members of the media that she is not satisfied with the pace of the investigations nor is she pleased with the way she and her son are being handled by the police administration.
“I’m not getting anywhere. I’m just hearing and hearing and nothing is happening. I have a son who is sick, I don’t know whatever will happen to him,” Marcel Griffith said.
Her position was supported by a number of persons who joined her and her son in protest outside the Office of the Commissioner of Police yesterday.
The woman was unsuccessful in her attempt to have an audience with the Top Cop, since she was told that she will have to write a letter in order to meet with Seelall Persaud. This is despite the acting Commissioner’s stated open door policy towards members of the public.
She is upset that instead of the Cadet Officer facing the court, she is being bombarded with telephone calls from persons offering money to have the matter settled.
“It making me feel like everything just going down the drain like that; I ain’t getting no sort of justice. At least money can’t buy my child because no money worthy of my child, none! Justice is the issue that I’m looking forward to,” Griffith declared.
The police in a statement said that yesterday morning the woman was briefed via telephone by Head of the Police Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), Heeralall Mackhanlall, as to the status of the investigation and the way forward in relation to the incident.
She was informed that the investigation is in the final stage and will be completed shortly, following which the file will be sent to the Chairman of the Police Complaints Authority for his perusal and recommendations, and then to the Director of Public Prosecutions for legal advice, upon which the Police Force will act.
But in response, social activist Mark Benschop, who is acting on behalf of the injured teen’s family, said that the police are not being entirely truthful on the matter.
According to Benschop, Mackhanlall contacted him via cell phone at around 9:20 am, requesting a meeting with the mother of the shot 15-year-old boy. Benschop said that based on their discussions, Mackhanlall merely wanted to “go over with the mother” what the investigations have revealed thus far.
Benschop said that he suggested to the OPR Head that the woman and members of the public are interested in swift justice, and not merely a ‘briefing’ on the matter.
Not feeling satisfied with the response from Benschop, Mackhanlall reportedly contacted Griffith, telling her that “Benschop said it’s okay for her to visit his office…..”
“That’s a blatant lie. However, the child’s mother double checked with me. In the end, she NEVER visited his office, neither was she ‘briefed’ on anything concerning her son’s matter, except that the ‘investigations will conclude next week’,” Benschop stated.
He said that the police position is being interpreted as “sinister motives by senior police ranks who are playing Russian Roulette with citizens’ lives and justice.”
Griffith said that she cannot see why the matter is taking so long to go before the court, since her son has given a detailed statement and has even positively identified the Cadet Officer in an identification parade.
“The policeman needs to be put up a little. Let him know that is something wrong he did; that you can’t just watch people children and shoot them. This is cruelty to my child,” Griffith said.
Meanwhile, Dr Melissa Ifill, who was a part of yesterday’s protest outside the Commissioner’s Office, described the action of the Cadet Officer as outrageous.
“This is the second incident we have had in a matter of months in which an officer of the security services has violently traumatized and brutalized a young African Guyanese male. It is outrageous and in the case of (Colwyn) Harding, nothing has been done. The DPP and the Ppolice are playing political football with this particular case and it appears as though this is going to happen again with this one.”
She further called for citizens to stand up against any form of abuse, especially those coming from the police. “This could have been anyone. It could have been our sons, brothers and fathers.”
According to Sherlina Nageer, a representative from Red Thread, there is a lack of accountability within the police force.
“I am out here yet again to protest police injustice, inactions, and the violation of child rights by the police. We have seen this time and time again. This is not the first time and it doesn’t appear as if it is going to be the last. We want justice for this young boy who was shot. First it was Shaquille Grant, then Harding, and now Griffith,” Nageer posited.
Another protester, Bevon Currie, said what happened two Wednesdays ago is a clear case of police using excessive force on an unarmed young man in a routine form of investigation.
“I am an advocate for the development of the people of this country and when elements of the state would make it a routine to assault young people and brutalize them for no apparent reason, it is a cause for concern because if we want to mould the generation of young people who, like in my generation where we had tremendous respect for the police, then we cannot allow elements of the Guyana Police Force to unleash these kinds of terror on our young people in the community,” Currie exclaimed.
He further stressed that the Commissioner of Police “in his own words talked about renewing the image of the Guyana Police Force, but the inaction in the Harding case and now with this young man is a clear indication that the status quo remains the same and I am out here to call on the Commissioner of Police and the Government to stop the antics and take action now.”
Elton McCrae expressed his dissatisfaction at how the mother of the 15-year-old was turned away when she made attempts to meet with the Commissioner yesterday.
“I have seen situations where the Commissioner of Police, even Ministers of the Government visited families, but here, the mother was informed that she has to write a letter if she wants to meet with the Commissioner,” McCrae said.
Shaquille Grant, 17, of Lot 12 BB Eccles, East Bank Demerara (EBD) was gunned down by police officers on September 11, 2012.
Police in a press release had said that ranks on a mobile police patrol came under fire in Agricola from a group of men, including Grant. They returned fire and fatally shot Grant.
However residents in the area said that Grant was a victim of police harassment and claimed that there was no exchange of gunfire.
To date, no one has been charged.

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