Another Brutal Police Beating at Tobago Police Station

IN PAIN: Samuel Maraj of Whim, Tobago,
 and Chervon Davidson of Arouca yesterday.
 —Photo: ELIZABETH WILLIAMS

Samuel Maraj of Whim, Tobago, and Chervon Davidson of Arouca visited the Express office in Tobago yesterday with the claim of police brutality.

Maraj, 21, and Davidson, along with Junior Melville, were held on April 10 in connection with the disappearance of Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP) leader Ashworth Jack’s loaded nine-millimetre pistol and cash.

Maraj and Davidson were released on Thursday, while 17-year-old Melville was released on Friday.

Melville and Maraj have accused the police of beating them while in custody. Melville’s story appeared the Express on April 13.

Maraj said he is in constant pain.

Both hands are in casts and his left foot is bandaged. He said he was beaten by three officers with baseball bats, torchlights and batons. Maraj said he was also slapped repeatedly by approximately five officers.

“Is a big strong man, over 8 feet, with size about 300 pounds, about 275 pounds he could be weighing, with all he might he held up my foot in the air and start to beat me on this foot at Scarborough CID,” Maraj said.

Maraj said the beatings continued into the wee hours of Thursday morning. He said he was beaten on his chest, while other officers kicked him on his head.

“This hand fracture. This hand bust open. It have stitches here. They beat me brutally on my chest,” he said.

He feared he would die.

“They drag me. They put me to lie down. I was bleeding all over the ground,” Maraj said.

He said he is traumatised.

After his release and while seeking medical attention at the Scarborough General Hospital, he claims he saw one of the officers who had beaten him.

“I saw the officer when I was leaving the hospital and he say ‘Indian, we get to realise that is not you’,” he said.

Davidson, who was also suspected in the break-in at Jack’s house, said he was not beaten by officers, but heard the screams of his friends while in custody.

He said officers ordered him to clean up the bloodstains on the walls, ground and van before he could be released.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Tobago) Heflin George told the Express while the pistol and cash remain missing, no reports of police brutality have been brought to his attention.

Source:Trinidadexpress