- Magistrate rules “insufficient evidence” to prosecute
The two police constables who were jointly charged in 2013 for assaulting Colwyn Harding during his arrest, were yesterday set free after the charges against them were dismissed at the Providence Magistrate’s Court, East Bank Demerara (EBD).
Police Constables, Devin Singh and Roselle Tilbury-Douglas, had been fingered in the alleged assault and baton sodomy of Harding but due to the lack of sufficient evidence the charges were dropped against the duo.
At yesterday’s Court hearing, the attorneys representing the two police ranks made an application for the charges to be dismissed while stating that the court’s time was being wasted with the prolonging of the matter.
Harding’s lawyer, Nigel Hughes, was absent during yesterday’s proceedings and prior to that Harding himself had been absent from court on two consecutive occasions without any excuse being provided.
Magistrate Leron Daly subsequently dismissed the charges against the two police constables ruling that there was “insufficient evidence” to prosecute.
In 2013 when the allegations against the two accused surfaced, Harding had been admitted to the hospital for intestinal hernia. As a result of this he had to undergo numerous surgeries.
His claim was that the two police constables had beaten him during his detainment until he lost consciousness.
After regaining consciousness he had begun to complain that he felt pain and bleeding from his anus.
However, the various doctors had reported that they did not see any signs of sexual abuse to support Harding’s allegations. They noted that they observed the man to be suffering from an intestinal infection and condition.
