Cops accused of throwing hot water on suspected house jumper
– claims he broke into their house
Seventeen-year-old Ashkay Budhiram, a mason of 3928 La Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara was on Monday allegedly abducted and tortured by two off duty police constables who accused him of breaking into their home.
The burns Budhiram sustained on his back and face at the hands of the men
The handcuffs still on Budhiram’s hands
Commissioner of Police, Leslie James, called an impromptu press conference and made the revelation to the media. James stated that the two men who are brothers have been placed under close arrest as a probe into the incident gets underway.
He also revealed that the officers are the sons of a senior police official.
Commissioner James explained that the men’s home was broken into on December 12th and items were removed. They were said to have received word that the teen was somehow involved in the incident.
He stated that the two officers, one stationed at Wales and the other from the Tactical Service Unit (TSU) acted on their own; picked up the teen from his home and transported him in a private vehicle to their house.
The heinous act reportedly occurred at around 11:00hrs on Monday.
Budhiram’s distraught mother, Sabrina Lutch, explained to Kaieteur News that she received a call around 2pm on Monday from her daughter saying that her son was badly beaten and burnt by police.
According to her, when she arrived at her daughter’s home, she was greeted by the sight of her son, sitting in handcuffs and disfigured about the body.
“When I reach the place, me see, he back bun up. All he face get bruise; the two hand bin swell in the handcuff and he been crying seh mommy dem beat meh bad, bad.”
Ashkay Budhiram told the harrowing story to his mother. He stated that he was picked by eight men, two of whom were police ranks, and thrown in the trunk of a silver car.
He was then taken to a house, handcuffed to a bed and tortured for almost an hour.
“He seh them had he handcuff and they tek a kettle and throw the hot water down he face and they keep asking he, weh de phone deh and some game and he seh he keep telling them that he ain’t know nothing but they continue to beat he.”
The woman said that the men rained blows on her son with a leather belt and when he screamed, they placed a towel in his mouth and continued to hit him, breaking a tooth.
According to the woman, after the torturous ordeal, they placed the teen back in the trunk of the car and were transporting him to another location but this was deterred by the teen’s effort to survive.
Budhiram reportedly used a wire in the trunk to pick the lock and carefully opened the door and rolled out of the moving car.
“He seh when he roll out, them hear he but he run and jump a trench and hide in the bush till they go away. Then he run and go to he sister place.”
The teen was taken for medical treatment and a report was made at the La Parfaite Harmonie Police Station.
Sources close to the investigations revealed that the men admitted that they arrested the teen but denied any allegation of the torture.
Further, the men also denied that they placed the injured teen into the trunk of their car.
They reportedly claimed that he was sitting in the back of the car and escaped.
“This is something grave…We are doing an impartial investigation and will follow it wherever it leads,” the source said.
This situation mirrors a similar incident where a teen was tortured back in 2009.
The teenager who was being held at the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station had a flammable liquid poured on his lower torso and was set alight during interrogation.
This led to him being hospitalised with burns to his genitals, thighs and hips. (Shikema Dey)