Bequia man fed up of alleged police beatings

A Bequia resident, who earlier this year alleged that he was beaten by police, is now currently nursing wounds he says he received from another squad of policemen.

Last week, Shimroy Stowe, 33, told SEARCHLIGHT that the previous weekend, he was jumped, beaten with a gun pointed at him.

Stowe said he wasn’t feeling well and decided to drive from his home in Bequia to get some medicine.{{more}}

He said as he made his way to get the medication, a police vehicle pulled over on his side of the road, blocked him and an officer hopped out and pointed a firearm at him.

“He didn’t even say nothing, he just point a gun at me,” Stowe recalled.

The Bequia man said he panicked and reversed; however, he was distracted by the police officer and crashed into a tree.

He said he explained to the officers why he reversed, but he claims they rushed him and told him they wanted to search his vehicle.

Stowe said he begged the officers to allow him to go home, but when he tried to walk away, the officers pulled him by his hair and dragged him on the ground.

“I tried to defend myself, but I was really sick,” said Stowe.

Additionally, Stowe said he grabbed a gun that officers had pointed to his face and two shots were fired.

“While I hold to the gun now, the next one come from behind and start pounding me in my head, the back of my head and my neck.”

He said one kicked him in his side and an officer’s foot was on his chest.

On August 10, Stowe appeared before the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court with a swollen face, charged with assaulting a police officer.

However, when he spoke to SEARCHLIGHT after he was granted bail, he said he was the victim, not the aggressor, in an incident that took place on Tuesday, August 9, as he made his way to Port Elizabeth, Bequia.

During the interview, SEARCHLIGHT observed that Stowe’s face was swollen, he had dried blood on his shirt, his shoulder and elbow were bruised, his lip was burst and he complained about pains in his jaw and the back of his head.

Stowe’s lawyer Grant Connell told the court that his client was in excruciating pain from the beating he allegedly had received and asked that he sign his own bail, so that he could tend to his injuries at the hospital.

Officers in court laughed as Connell described the condition of his client, who limped to the defendant’s box.

The police prosecutor made no objection to Stowe’s bail; however, he asked for reporting conditions.

Stowe was granted $2,000 bail and the matter was adjourned and transferred to Bequia for August 25, 2016.

However, when he spoke to SEARCHLIGHT last week, Stowe said the case was dismissed after the police officer failed to show up in court.

The Bequia man said it is his belief that the police officer he had his first encounter with encouraged other officers to harass him.

“I fed up of it, I fed up complain. I just like leave it alone… but the man them serious; if they meet me anywhere by myself I feel they would really mess me up, you know.”

Stowe said he has not been able to go to Police Public Relations and Complaints Department, adding that he has not received a medical report form from the police.

“I don’t even know what I doing these people, big man; I don’t do these people nothing, I don’t know why they after me like this…. I had enough; they wan’ turn me into a criminal, big man. I can’t be no criminal.”(AS)