A young man’s traumatic experience with members of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) ignited his desire to complete his legal studies, which he started in 2017 in an effort to assist those who have experienced a similar situation.
Shaquille Fausette intends to further the public good and have a positive impact on how the world is run to help under-served parts of the population who might otherwise be unable to afford an attorney.
In 2018, Shaquille, then 19; his father, Storm; his then five-year-old brother and another man, Daryl Medas, were the victims of Police brutality. Speaking recently with Guyana Times, Shaquille explained why his family sued the State for the police’s breach of their constitutional rights. 
Shaquille noted that the duty of law enforcement officers is to serve and protect, not overstep. He said that he and his father were wrongfully arrested during which they were deprived of their right to a lawyer and food/water.
Moreover, he criticised the police ranks, stating that they behaved in a most disrespectful, uncouth and unprofessional manner, thus causing them embarrassment, loss, and damage. Shaquille expressed that his encounter with Police ranks was truly a life-changing experience.
As a matter of fact, he shared, “It has shown me the many flaws with law enforcement and has sparked a passion in me and created a great desire to complete my law studies so that I could be in a position to assist those who might have experienced a similar injustice.”
In the lawsuit which concluded earlier this month, High Court Judge Priya Sewnarine-Beharry awarded them $10.5 million in damages for their wrongful arrest/deprivation of liberty and inhumane treatment which amounted to a breach of their fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution of Guyana.
They were also awarded $250,000 in court costs.
Serve and protect
According to Shaquille, from his experience with the police, it is clear that many people are deprived of their fundamental rights and the Police take advantage of this because no serious action is taken against them.
“It was clear to me that many people are deprived of their fundamental rights and the police trample on the fact that nobody takes serious action against them. I know a problem like this won’t change overnight and I really hope more cases like this are brought to the Judiciary to have the police know that at the end of the day there is a greater authority out there that they will have to answer to. They have a duty to serve and protect, not overstep.
“On this day we were searched and nothing was found, but yet upon entering the station the policewoman at the desk came to me with the station book and asked me to sign. I asked what I was signing to and she said that a search was conducted and nothing was found, upon reading the charge in the book it said “possession of narcotics”. When I objected to signing, I was told I was ‘stupid’ and ‘making matters worse’ for myself.”
The young man related that at the station desk, there were several police officers, from whom he had asked for a telephone call. But to his surprise, they told him, “nobody at the station has credit to waste”. He said that in order for him to get a bottle of water and a phone call to his counsel, he had to pay $6000 to a police rank.
“That day I paid one officer $2000 for a bottle of water and $4000 for a phone call to enjoy my fundamental right to legal counsel. The detective in question threatened my life when I made them aware of the rights they were breaching and drove me past my school as a snap back and instructed the other officers to take us to the “stinkest lock-ups” at Diamond [Police Station].”
But what impacted Shaquille the most was not his personal experience with Police brutality. It was the plight of another man who was also in the lock-ups.
He recounted, “After entering the holding facility, there was a man in the cell next door who was not as fortunate as I might have been to afford a call or food. I remember his cries being he was in there for four days with no charge nor was he afforded his right to a phone call to his family. The police just kept shouting back to him from the front of the station to shut up. We tried our best to get him a phone call and sent some food to him.”
In response to the lawsuit, the police ranks in question had contended that due to a spree of robberies committed on persons leaving the Bank of Nova Scotia at Robb Street, Georgetown, the area was under surveillance by ranks of the Special Branch Unit.
They said that the occupants of Storm’s vehicle were seen acting in a suspicious manner in the area on the day in question and were trailed and intercepted at Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown.
Justice Sewnarine-Beharry, however, concluded that the police ranks failed to establish reasonable suspicion to justify the detention and arrest of the claimants. She further found that a mere order from a superior officer to arrest a particular person cannot constitute reasonable ground for such suspicion.
As a result of the police rank’s actions, Justice Sewnarine-Beharry, among other things, noted that Shaquille, his father and Medas lost time, while the underaged child “would have been undoubtedly traumatised, seeing the police arrest his father and brother.”
According to the Judge, the police ranks took the trio on a “drive of shame”, and the police driver instructed Detective Watson to drive through the busy areas and pass by Shaquille’s school to ensure that his teachers and classmates saw him.
Flashback
On January 30, 2018, the vehicle in which Shaquille and his family were travelling was pulled over by a party of policemen at Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, Georgetown, while they were making their way home.
Police ranks Semple and Watson instructed Shaquille and his father to exit the vehicle, while his younger brother remained inside. Police searched the two men but found nothing illegal in their possession and proceeded to search the vehicle.
Again, nothing illegal was found. The police ranks then ordered Shaquille and his father to hand over their cell phones and they complied. Shaquille’s father was instructed to retrace the stops he had made earlier that day, and to drive to the home of Medas situated at 524 Kiskadee Drive in South Ruimveldt Gardens, Georgetown.
On arrival there, the home and car belonging to Medas were searched. Medas and two male occupants of his home had their persons searched, and although, again, nothing of evidential value was unearthed, their cell phones were seized.
The five-year-old child was then dropped off at his grandmother’s residence, while Shaquille, his father and Medas were escorted to the East La Penitence Police Station, and then to the Diamond Police Station.
While at the latter, they were placed in the lock-ups – a dark cubicle measuring six feet by nine feet and imbued with a strong stench of human faeces and urine. Further, in order for their fingerprints to be taken, Officers Watson and Semple had instructed them to wash their hands in a drain, as running water was not available.
When Shaquille and his father enquired about the reason for their detention, the police ranks gave them various responses, including, “It was a normal stop-and-search”; “Police got dem wuk to do”, and, “It is a pending investigation.”
When Medas enquired why his home was being searched without a warrant, a police rank told him, “We is de Police, and we could search yah house”, and, “We got orders from the bigger ones to search this house.”
When Shaquille threatened to sue, Detective Watson threatened that he would wait outside of his school, and also told him, “Duh is how y’all body does get find and ya murder does be a mystery.”
Upbraided by Medas for speaking to a young boy in that manner, Detective Semple threatened, “If I ever see you down the road, I’m going to bore you up or chop yuh sk4$#t up. “Is cutlass I does roll with. You lucky me int had lil drugs fuh plant in ya house and loss you away in prison fuh life.”
