By Leroy Smith
[www.inewsguyana.com] – Chairman of the Complaints Authority, retired Justice Cecil Kennard is of the view that if the police officers at the Timehri Police Station taken Colwyn Harding for medical attention as soon as he claimed he was abused, the many doubts and perception of a police cover up would have never surfaced.
“I thought the man ought to have been examined at an earlier stage, he ought to have been taken for medical attention, I don’t know if it was an attempt to cover up the situation but the man should been taken for medica,l” Kennard told iNews.
According to him, he would always advise police officers to immediately take prisoners and detainees to seek medical attention once they make any claim that they were abused or ill-treated while in the custody of the police.
Justice Kennard said that while this may seem as a very frivolous move to some, it does help in determining if the claims of the prisoner or detainee is factual since the medical reports would specify.
This move could help the police from recusing themselves of false allegations made by prisoners, Kennard said.
The file on Colwyn Harding was handed over to the Police yesterday after the office of the Police Complaints Authority completed its investigation. Colwyn Harding was reportedly raped with a baton by a police officer while he was in custody and ill-treated by other ranks of the Timehri Police Station where he was being detained in November 2013.
There have been much unease in society with respect to the investigations into the Colwyn Harding matter causing many to suggest that the police are taking their very own time in investigating their own.
