Magistrate appalled at conduct of officers

Senior Magistrate Donald Browne has expressed his “utter disappointment” with the three police officers recently convicted of assault.{{more}}

The outspoken Browne is of the view that officers Kasanki Quow, Osrick James and Hadley Ballantyne “overstepped their boundaries, abused their power and were over zealous.”

The three men were convicted on February 2, 2010, for the assault of 16-year-old Jemark Jackson on November 18, 2008, in the general office of the Criminal Investigations Department(CID) at police headquarters in Kingstown.

Jackson’s feet and hands were held down by two of the officers, while another beat him with a hose. The youngster also testified in court that he was kicked about his body and slammed three times on the floor before being hospitalized.

“This is a very sad and serious case that three officers left themselves open to something like this. Jemark never did the police anything, nothing whatsoever,” Browne added.

Browne in his summation stated that it was rather strange that none of the three officers or any of the other officers called to testify by the prosecution saw any ill treatment meted out to Jackson on that day, nor could any of them say that Jemark sustained injuries due to a fall.

According to Browne, one of the doctors indicated in his testimony that Jemark told him that he was involved in an altercation with the police and was experiencing abdominal pains. He also noted that another doctor testified that Jackson’s injuries must have happened that same day and if he did not receive medical attention, he would have died.

“No one seems to know what happened to Jemark. Well, if so, Jemark has to be very clever and has a vivid imagination to have said all of this,” Browne asserted.

Under “scorching” cross-examination, Browne noted that Jemark stood his ground and showed no signs of lying. “How can a 15 year-old tell a lie in such a vivid way? You want to tell me his vivid imagination landed him in the ICU for seven days? If he is so clever to tell lies, someone has to be a ghost writer and tell the story,” Browne mentioned.

The magistrate asked the question: “Why did three officers take it upon themselves to hold onto a 15-year-old and abuse him like this? Is it because he is a bad egg? He still has his rights,” Browne noted.

Browne said he was surprised that experienced police officers had taken orders from a civilian.

At the time of the incident, Adina Bushay, a vendor at the Dr J P Eustace Secondary School, telephoned the police to call them to the school in relation to an alleged fight in which Jemark was involved. Bushay told the officers to “make a block” and return in a few minutes. Upon their return, the officers apprehended Jackson.

“She is the one who engineered the police to go look for him and it would have been on her conscience if he died. What an evil woman. I can’t believe officers took orders from a civilian. You should have told her that you’ll make a block,” Browne asserted. (KW)