Woman says teenaged son was severely beaten by six men at Glen

Police are investigating an incident where six men beat a 14-year-old secondary school student, causing him to spend three days at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH).

According to Glen resident Harriet Oliver, her son Ozem Oliver was on his way to feed his dog at a house that she is constructing at Glen when he was accused of being a burglar and severely beaten by six men, one of whom had a gun.{{more}}

Harriet said that she lives in one area of Glen, while she is constructing a new home in another area of the community. She explained that her son has a dog that he keeps at the construction site and usually goes to feed it daily, but on Friday, October 14, he forgot to feed the dog and left home very late to travel the short distance to make sure that the animal was fed.

It was while on this mission that he was accosted by the men and beaten about his body.

Telling his side of the story, Ozem said that it was about 1 a.m. Saturday, October 15, when he was walking towards the construction site that he saw six men at a house, one of them holding a firearm.

The youngster said that to him the men looked like “drugs man,” so he became scared and decided to turn back without feeding the dog. He said when he turned back, the men saw him and shouted to him to approach them.

Although scared, he went towards the men, who began questioning him.

“They call me and ask me where I going and I said I going home and two seconds after I get a box in my eye and I ran and they run me down,” recalled Ozem. The youngster said that he thought that he was getting away, but then a car drove up to him and someone in the vehicle grabbed him and he fell to the ground, rolled over, got up and began running again.

He said that the vehicle drove up a second time and he was held once again, but he could not get away this time.

“I couldn’t get away; then they came and throw me on the ground and box me up and kick me up,” said Ozem.

The battered and bruised youngster, whose right eye was swollen shut at the time of the interview, said that a dreadlocked man looked out a window of a house and enquired what was going on, after which the men put him in their vehicle and took him back to the house where he had first encountered them.

“They beat me again and then call the police. They were telling me that I break the house and they beat me up,” said Ozem, who revealed that when the police came, the officer enquired of the men if they had met him on the property, to which they replied “no”.

“The police laugh and took me in a car and took me to the hospital,” recalled Ozem, who added, “the house was broken into some time ago, they were saying, not even the same night, so because they see me come they suspect I break the house. They not from Glen. The police didn’t do anything, just take their names.”

Harriet (Ozem’s mother) said that when she spoke to the police, they said that they had taken the names of her son’s attackers and when a medical report of her son’s injuries was issued, they would charge them, but up to press time, nothing had been done although the police have the medical report.

She said that she is not pleased about the incident that caused her son to miss a number of days of school.

“At first I was angry with him for leaving the house that late, but then when I think about it, he is just a child. I thought was his age group that beat him, until I saw it was some big man. Why would you take a child and do that?”

Harriet said that what the men should have done if they suspected her son had done something wrong was to call the police and let the police investigate.

“I will like justice for my son; they supposed to pay for that, he is just a child. … They well kick him up and still carry him by the house and beat him again,” said the angry mother, who is calling on the police to find the men and charge them for the pain, suffering and misery they have caused the family.

Ozem sustained injuries to his face and eye and other parts of his body.

Police say they are investigating the incident, but up to press time, no one had been charged. (LC)