Colwyn Harding assault trial again adjourned
COLWYN Harding, the young man who alleged that he was brutally baton-raped and otherwise assaulted by two police officers while in custody in 2013,was supposed to continue his testimony on Friday, however, the court was forced to adjourn the matter once more after Harding failed to appear. The trial was scheduled for continuation at 10:30hrs at the Providence Magistrates’ Court before Magistrate Leron Daley. However, also absent were special prosecutor Nigel Hughes, who was appointed by the Director of Public Prosecutions, attorney Glenn Hanoman and his client constable Devin Singh.
The other defendant in the case, female police officer Roselle Tilbury-Douglas was joined by her lawyer Mr. Leslie Sobers, who was ready to proceed, but was greeted with the disappointing announcement of the August 17adjournment by the magistrate.
Magistrate Daley explained to the court that she had received a letter from prosecutor Hughes explaining that he was out of the country.
There was however,no explanation for Constable Singh’s absence and as a result,the magistrate issued a warrant for his arrest.
On Friday, July 10,2015, the magistrate was forced to adjourn the trial, after the prosecutor failed to make an appearance on the second day of the trial.
The two defence lawyers Sobers and Hanoman on that day had made a joint application for dismissal of the matter in the absence of the prosecution. However, the magistrate rejected the application.
At the first hearing of the trial, Harding was called upon to testify about the incident leading to the charges,but suffered an emotional break- down while testifying.
Before breaking down,Harding had testified that the police went to his home at Timehri,on November 15,2013 when he was with his girlfriend Tenisha Evans, and kicked down his backdoor. Harding said Constable Singh handcuffed him and dragged him into the bedroom,while the other officers continued to search the house.
Singh, Harding had noted,had become annoyed when he denied being a member of the notorious “Hot Skull” gang and began beating him; when he tried to scream, he said the constable gagged him with his underwear and continued beating him.
The witness explained that he was then dragged into the kitchen, where he was further interrogated and brutally beaten by the said officer, causing him to fall to his knees.
Police Constables Devin Singh, of Lot 125 Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara, and Roselle Tilbury-Douglas of Alliance Road, Timehri, East Bank Demerara, have been jointly charged with assaulting Harding during the period November 1 to November 13, 2013, at the Timehri Police Station, so as to cause him actual bodily harm. Devin Singh was also slapped with an additional and separate assault charge.
According to reports, the two police officers who were based at the Timehri Police Station,pushed a condom-covered baton up Harding’s anus in November, 2013. Harding, who was at the time a prisoner on remand for allegedly assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest, had suffered a ruptured intestine. Harding later underwent two private examinations, one at a private hospital here and the other in Jamaica and the conclusion from both examinations was that a foreign object had been inserted into his anus.
