– but physical assault charges likely to be filed against some ranks
There is no evidence to suggest that 23-year-old Colwyn Harding was baton-raped, Police Complaints Authority Chairman, Justice Cecil Kennard said, noting that criminal charges to this effect will not be instituted against police officers accused of the allegation.
In a telephone interview with Guyana Times International on Tuesday, Kennard said he has completed his role in the process and is currently preparing his report with recommendations to be handed over to the relevant agencies.
Asked whether there will be any charges against the police officers accused of the allegation, Justice Kennard said “the evidence does not point in that direction”.
He explained that the report from the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), which was handed over to him about a week ago, does not contain any evidence of Harding being assaulted to the extent he claimed.
However, he pointed out that there will be charges of physical assault levied against the officers.
He disclosed that he has recommended that two police officers be charged criminally and several others to face disciplinary action departmentally.
Kennard went on to say that a key factor missing from the report is a medical report to support Harding’s allegations.
The head of the PCA further noted that the fact that Harding waited months before making his complaint was another factor taken into consideration.
“He waited until he was at the Georgetown hospital, he might have revealed it to his lawyer and other persons, but not until January. All he told the doctors was that he was assaulted, he did not mention anything about the police using a baton on him,” Kennard stated.
No sexual
assault complaint
Kennard noted that Dr Madan Rambarran, in his statement, said when he saw Harding in January, the young man made no complaints of being sexually assaulted.
“Even when he was in prison, he didn’t complain about that. He had several opportunities. When he got to prison, he didn’t tell the medical staff there. These are serious allegations,” he stated.
Justice Kennard explained that the next step now is for him to hand the report over to the relevant authorities.
“Assuming that I’m recommending criminal charges, it will have to go back to the crime chief for him to take the file to the office of the DPP [Director of Public Prosecutions], who will make the decisions where criminal charges are concerned,” he said.
He added that disciplinary charges were recommended for several officers, all of whom were stationed at Timehri.
He explained that some of the charges will be dealt with by the police commissioner and the others by the Police Service Commission.
Allegations against ranks from sergeant and lower levels are dealt with by the police commissioner, while those concerning officers above the rank of sergeant go to the Police Service Commission.
In early January, Harding told the media that he was baton-raped by police officers at the Timehri Police Station in mid-November last year.
Harding was hospitalised at the Georgetown Public Hospital GPH where doctors determined that he had a severe case of hernia.
After two surgeries and several weeks of treatment, he left two weeks ago to seek medical treatment in Jamaica.
This newspaper was told that he was seen by doctors there, but no surgery will be done until he recuperates some more.
