Crime Chief Leslie James yesterday confirmed that police are again in possession of the Colwyn Harding file, and pleaded for patience while reassuring that results of the investigation will be known soon.
Colwyn Harding
“The file is with the police; be patient; shortly there will be some action (on the matter),” James told Kaieteur News yesterday.
The lengthy report was handed over to the police on Thursday after being sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions, with recommendations from Chairman of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA), Justice Cecil Kennard, that two ranks be charged for assaulting Harding.
Earlier this month, Justice Kennard also advised that disciplinary action be taken against several other ranks including senior officers who were in some way linked to the incident.
The 23-year-old Harding has alleged that a policeman at the Timehri station pushed a condom-covered baton up his anus in November 2013.
Harding, who was at the time a prisoner having been remanded for allegedly assaulting the cop and resisting arrest, suffered a ruptured intestine. He subsequently had to undergo corrective surgery in Jamaica, even as a dispute arose as to how he had come by his injury.
The investigation triggered by public outrage, has taken several months with the file going back and forth from the Police Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), which was conducting the probe, to the desk of the Chairman of the PCA to the DPP’s office.
In April the DPP had indicated that she had sent back the file to the police recommending further investigation since there were some loopholes.
The police OPR was asked to get statements from other witnesses since it was vital for the DPP in making her final recommendations.