…pleads for justice
A Corentyne, Berbice taxi driver is seeking justice after he was allegedly beaten by Police Officers at the Springlands Police Station.
Baldeo Budhram, 33, a taxi driver, of Lot 50 Princetown, Corriverton, told this newspaper on Wednesday that he was beaten by Police Officers attached to the Springlands Police Station on October 7.
According to Budhram, he was outside his home waiting for his wife to open the gate when Police ranks on patrol pulled up alongside him.
Budhram told this publication that a Policeman walked up to him and instructed that he step out of the car. According to him, he became scared after the officer told him to go into the passenger seat and another jumped in the back seat of the car. He said he began asking questions and the officer in the backseat put his arm around his neck and choked him. He alleged that he was then told that he will find out all that he wanted to know when he gets to the station.
At the Springlands Police Station, the taxi driver claimed he was told to take a breathalyser test, but he refused since the pipe he was being asked to blow into was a used one. After searching for a new one, the officers told him that they did not have any and he had to use that very one. He said he then told the officers that he was aware of his rights and was not going to put the used pipe into his mouth.
“They told me since I know my rights let me go and lock up my car. When I go outside one of them start to cuss me and I cuss he back and then one of them take a gun and lash me behind my head and I go down to the ground and then start to kick me all over in my back, head, jaw, mouth and in my ribs.”
The taxi driver said he was later placed in the lock ups and the following morning taken to the Skeldon Hospital for medical treatment and then released.
The matter has since been reported to the Police and Budhram was told that an officer will visit him to take a statement. He said he waited for three days and then returned to the station. He was subsequently asked to make a report with the Office of Professional Responsibility. He is of the view that he is being pushed around by Police in Berbice.
When Guyana Times International reached out for a comment on the matter, the Police claimed that the taxi driver fell and injured himself. However, Bhudram told this publication that he did not fall. He also said the ground is flat and covered with sand.
Following the lack of what Budhram calls an unsatisfactory response, he took his concerns to the Office of the Prime Minister in Berbice and met with the regional representative, Gobin Harbhajan.
Speaking with this newspaper, Harbhajan said he spoke with the Sub-Divisional Officer who said the Divisional Commander has been asked to investigate the matter. After an entire month of back and forth and still awaiting justice in the matter, Bhudram reached out to the media on Wednesday and told his story. (Andrew Carmichael)
