Police charged with assaulting Colwyn Harding; lawyer denies baton-insertion

Last Updated on Tuesday, 3 June 2014, 20:12 by GxMedia

Two Guyana Police Force constables were Tuesday arraigned for offences allegedly committed on Colwyn Harding who has accused the police of sodomizing him with a condom-covered baton.

Devin Singh of Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara and Rosell Tilbury pleaded not guilty to the offences and were granted a total of GUY$300,000 bail.

They were jointly charged with Assault Causing Actual Bodily Harm allegedly committed on Harding between November 1 and November 30, 2013. Singh was charged with assault  between November 1 and November 30, 2013.

They were placed on GUY$100,000 for each offence by Chief Magistrate, Priya Sewnarine-Beharry and the case was transferred to Providence Magistrates’ Court. They will appear there on Wednesday, June 4.

In requesting reasonable bail for Singh, Defence Lawyer, Glenn Hanoman said the offence was unrelated to the use of a baton on Harding. “The offence for which my client was charged has nothing to do with the insertion of a baton,” said Hanoman.

The lawyer said his client has been cooperating fully with the police, including reporting to a police station on more than 20 occasions and reported the court on his own volition.

Tilbury’s lawyer, Leslie Sobers said his client 26-year old client is married and a mother of one child. He said she was always available to the police, cooperated fully with investigators and remained on active duty until she was told Tuesday afternoon that she needed t go to court. “She has never been in a predicament as this,” he said.  He vouched for Tilbury’s willingness to face trial and prove her innocence. “My client will appear and show that she in no way assaulted the Virtual Complainant and she stands prepared to expose this deceit and the spuriousness of this allegation,” said Sobers.

Police later said that “departmental charges will also be made against some other ranks involved in the matter.”

Harding has accused members of the police force of beating him and inserting a baton in his rectum, an alleged act he has said had ruptured his intestine.

Harding was arrested in November last year at Timehri during an investigation into theft and taken to the police station in that district where the alleged sodomy had occurred.