| … as complainant arrives late, prosecutor again absentTwo cops charged with allegedly using a condom-covered baton to assault a prisoner in 2013, yesterdayLate for Court: Alleged victim, Colwyn Hardingwalked out of the Providence Magistrate’s Court free after the case was dismissed.Now looking to build back their lives which saw them being interdicted from duties are Police Constables Devin Singh and Rosel Tilbury-Douglas, who made the news after accusations were leveled against them by then teenager Colwyn Harding.Harding, the virtual complainant, was late for court yesterday, and had been absent on at least one occasion before. It is Harding’s absence, and that of Special Prosecutor Nigel Hughes, that defence attorneys, Leslie Sobers and Glenn Hanoman both used to complain that their clients – the two accused – were being unnecessarily burdened because of the delays.Harding had given evidence but the cross-examination by the defence lawyers were not over.The defence successfully requested yesterday that the prosecution case be closed against the two accused because of the aforementioned absence.Shortly after Magistrate Daly ordered the closure of the prosecution’s case, Harding turned up in court and said that the heavy traffic had delayed him.A male representative of Hughes’ law offices also arrived and appealed for the Magistrate to stay her decision,Jerseys From China, saying that he was “instructed” that the lawyer would be in court for the next occasion. However, this was objected to by the lawyers for Singh and Tilbury-Douglas.The magistrate, in acknowledging the delays, dismissed the charges.There were tears from the two cops who said that they were happy with the decision.Both were on bail since 2014 for allegedly assaulting Harding with the baton.Singh, of Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara and Tilbury-Douglas, of Alliance Road, Timehri, East Bank Demerara, were jointly charged with assaulting Harding during the period November 1 to November 13, 2013, at the Timehri Police Station, so as to cause him actual bodily harm.Singh was also slapped with an additional assault charge.Case dismissed: Police Constables Devin Singh (left) and Rosel Tilbury-Douglas yesterday at the Providence Magistrate’s Court.The duo first appeared before Former Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry in June 2014 and had denied the allegation. Singh has been released on $200,000 bail while his colleague was on $100,000 bond.Hanoman and Sobers had earlier made applications before the court to have the charges against their clients dismissed. At one hearing Hanoman had contended that the prosecution was unable to satisfy the court, during the trial which has been ongoing since last year. The attorney had argued that his client had been interdicted from work for over a year and had also suffered financial constraints.Harding had alleged that a policeman at the Timehri Police Station pushed a condom-covered baton in his anus in November 2013. Harding – who was at the time a prisoner, having been remanded for allegedly assaulting the cop and resisting arrest – allegedly suffered internal injuries as a result. He subsequently underwent corrective surgery in Jamaica, even as a dispute arose as to how he had come by his injuries. |
