GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Monday June 20, 2011 – A 16-year-old Guyanese boy whose genitals were burned by police who were questioning him in connection with murder back in 2009, has been awarded GUY$6.5 million (US$31,909).
The attorney acting on Twyon Thomas’ behalf had sued the Attorney General, the Commissioner of Police, and the two officers who tortured the then 14-year-old – Sergeant Narine Lall and Constable Mohanram Dulai – for at least GUY$25 million (US$122,729) in compensation. But even though Justice Roxanne George found that the teenager’s fundamental rights were violated and described his treatment as “degrading, humiliating and debasing”, she ordered the payment of a smaller amount.
“The torture and cruel and inhuman treatment meted out to Thomas has demonstrated and established an absolute and flagrant disregard for his constitutional rights,” she said.
“I am of the view that this global or total award reflects that there is a need for the realization and understanding that respect for the fundamental rights provisions of the Constitution and respect for the human rights of persons requires vigilance and carries with it tremendous responsibility.”
Of the amount awarded to Thomas, GUY$3 million (US$14,727) was for compensatory damages; GUY$1.5 million (US$7,363) for inhuman and degrading punishment; GUY$1.5 million (US$7,363) for exemplary damages in connection with that punishment; and GUY$500,000 (US$2,454) for being deprived of his personal liberty since, according to the judge, he was unlawfully arrested and detained.
Justice George also chastised the other officers who knew the torture Thomas endured but did nothing to intervene, as well as the doctor who examined him while he was in police custody.
“To my mind, by failing to provide him with any medical examination for over a day after he was burnt, the unprofessional medical attention he received, and by failing to permit him to go to hospital for further medical attention for another two days, they displayed a callous indifference, lack of care and an absence of concern for Thomas as a detainee and as a child,” she said.
The torture occurred at the Leonora Police Station in October 2009 while the boy was in custody in connection with a murder.
A December 2009 report, compiled by the Office of Professional Responsibility, said that he was interviewed by two police officers before being escorted to the station where, despite maintaining his innocence, he was blindfolded with his jersey, stripped, beaten. He was then put to lie on the floor, and his genital area was soaked with mentholated spirits and set alight.
Sergeant Lall and Constable Dulai were freed of grievous bodily harm charges in January this year, after Thomas failed to show up at the magistrate court to give evidence on 17 consecutive occasions.
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