BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FIVE members of the Delta Squad are accused of beating a Newtown resident and putting a pistol in his mouth.
DeShae Prentice of Mad House Alley, Newtown claims that sometime after 11:00 p.m. on Monday, October 17, 2011, members of the Delta Squad took him to a secluded area in Bird Rock and beat him on several parts of his body.
Explaining what transpired on that night, Prentice said he had left his home between 10:30 and 11:00 with the intention of purchasing a few items at J’s Shop and Save in George Street, but on reaching there he found the mini-supermarket had closed for business.
On his way back home, Prentice said he had stopped by Williams Auto Rental at the junction of Mad House Alley and Pitcairn Street and was toying with the thought of going on his regular fitness walk before retiring to bed, when a number of law enforcement officers accosted him and executed a body search.
“While I was thinking if I should go for my regular fitness walk up to the Industrial Site, I saw four police officers coming down the road walking and two other police officers in a car. They hold me up, search me and asked me who I be and where I live. I answered all of their questions, and they also asked me how long I was living in Newtown and I told them two years.
“They also asked me what I was doing out of my home at that time, and I told where I went and that I was thinking about going on my routine fitness walk. One of the officers wanted to know why I was going on a walk so late into the night, and I explained to them that I normally leave my home to go and wash cars very early in the morning and I use the coolness of the night to keep fit by walking.”
The 37-year-old man said the officers went their way and he proceeded on his fitness walk. However, on completion of the walk he was returning to his home, but on opening the gate one of his two dogs ran out of the yard and he went in search of it.
“The rain was falling at that time and I did not want to leave my dog out of the yard. So I went on Pond Road by the Spanish Bar searching for my dog, but I didn’t see it there. I then turned into Pitcairn Street and I saw some people sheltering on the landing at Rosa’s Bar.
“One of them peeped out and called me. It was then that I realised it was the same soldier who I met earlier. I went towards him and I saw the other four police officers. I asked them what they were doing at the bar and one of them said they were holding shelter.
“The soldier then told me come up on the landing and I did so. When I got on the landing, one of the police officers asked me if I had a cell phone and I told him yes, and he told me to give it to him. I went into my pocket and gave him both of my cell phones. The soldier told me to turn around and face the wall. I complied and he gave me a hard blow to my head with his hand.
“I asked him what did I do for him to hit me, and he said. ‘Shut up, shut up boy, don’t make no noise.’ They once again searched me and told me to lie on the ground. While on the ground, they asked who sent me, and I told them nobody sent me and I don’t know what they were talking about…I left my home to look for my dog and I didn’t know that they were down there.”
Prentice also said that while on the ground, the officers asked him many other questions, including how many persons were living in the house within which Everad ‘Nitty’ Hewlett was killed, who killed 17-year-old Vincent Williams of Herbert Street and where were the guns; all to which he answered in the negative.
“They also asked me if I know anything about somebody called Surgy and I told them the only people I deal with in the area are Rambo and Tuba who rent cars, because I do get jobs from them for washing the cars. Then one of the police officers said, ‘I think I have a right to arrest you.’ I then said to myself, ‘This seems like I going to get lock up for nothing now.’
“Shortly after the two officers in the car returned and the Corporal asked what was going on. He said, ‘Who you all gat deh?’ And I said, ‘Officer is me again.’ And one of the police officers told me to shut up.”
Prentice stated that shortly before the two officers in the squad car had left the scene, another police officer indicated that they would take him to the Basseterre Police Station.
“The Corporal and the other officer drove away and shortly after the police bus arrived and they put me in it. I thought that they were taking me to the station, but they instead drove all the way to a lonely area in Bird Rock that has a dirt road and started beating me on my legs with a stick.
“I started to cry and begged them to stop because I had no answer to the questions they were asking. Then after beating me, one of them put a gun in my mouth and squeezed the trigger twice but it only made a clicking sound. They then drove out of Bird Rock and put me off by the Fisheries Complex on the Bay Road, from where I walked and went home in pains.”
The Mad House Alley resident said he was subsequently treated at the JNF Hospital and had reported the matter to Sergeant Jeffers of the Police Complaint Department, whom he claimed had advised him to also seek audience with the Commissioner of Police.
Prentice also said that he went to the Police Headquarters on a number of occasions to see the Commissioner but to date has not.
After informing this media house of the alleged beating, SKNVibes visited the Basseterre Police Station to speak with Sergeant Jeffers on the matter, but was told that he was transferred to the Nevis Division.
And on Monday (Nov. 21), when contacted, Commissioner Celvin ‘CG’ Walwyn told this media house that he had received a report on the allegation and had ordered an investigation into the matter.
