…nursing broken knee at GPHC
Twenty-nine-year-old Junior Courtman of Queenstown village, Essequibo Coast, Region Two is calling for justice after he allegedly was beaten by Police ranks in ‘G’ Division, and is now left with a broken knee.
The father of three told Guyana Times that, on June 20, he was out with three of his friends at a wash bay when, at about 23:00h, a vanload of Police ranks approached them and conducted a search of their persons.
According to him, nothing was found in their possession, and the ranks ordered them to go home.
Courtman said he and his friends left the wash bay; and when he got about 50 feet away from the location, he recalled leaving his phone at the wash bay, and he returned for it.
“So I went back to get my phone, but they were still there where we were; and when I went back, one of them jump out de vehicle and come and hold me and push me off my bike… So I told them I going for my phone, and he start pushing me and chucking me, and cuff me in my eye,” the injured man related.
He admitted to this newspaper that after the Police had done this, he and the rank became engaged in a scuffle. He said two others left the vehicle with a baton and a gun and started to attack him.
“When they done beating me, they throw me in de vehicle, because I couldn’t ah get up to walk. And then they took me to the (Anna Regina Police) Station. And when I reach there, they told me to get up and come out de vehicle, but I couldn’t ah get up; so they drag me into the station and put me on a bench to sit down,” Courtman detailed.
He said the Police took away all of his belongings and were about to place him in the lockups. They prepared a statement for him to sign, but he did not sign it, given that the occurrences Police documented therein were not accurate.
He said a female officer then advised that he be taken to the hospital, and the ranks took him to the Suddie Hospital, from where he was subsequently transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) on Thursday.
He remains a patient there, and is expected to undergo a surgery in the coming week.
When contacted, ‘G’ Division Commander Khali Pareshram said he is aware of one such case in the division, which to his knowledge is being investigated by the GPF’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).
He was, however, unable to say whether Courtman’s case is the one being investigated.
