BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A teenager from View Point Project in Sandy Point charged with assault and battery on police was dismissed last week by the magistrate at the District ‘B’ Magistrate’s Court.
Eighteen-year-old Lewis Welsh Jr., son of Corporal Lewis Welsh of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, had alleged that Officers 499 and 737 had physically abused him on the morning of Sunday, January 22, 2012 while he was in the bathroom of the G Spot, an entertainment establishment in Sandy Point.
Following his accusation, Welsh was subsequently charged with the offences of assault and battery on police.
Last week the case against him was dismissed on a no case submission.
Welsh was represented by Barrister-at-Law Chesley Hamilton, and evidence presented before the court suggested that the police were in no lawful execution of duty when they arrested and allegedly beaten the young man.
He had a remarkable explanation of privacy when he was in the bathroom, and for the police to charge him for battery against an officer with a bathroom door that can only be opened inwardly, was asking the court to accept evidence on behalf of the lawmen that is contrary to common sense.
It came out in the trial that the officers entered the bathroom not because the young man was intoxicated and disorderly, or was he smoking an illegal drug or engaged in any other illegal activity, but that he had no case to answer.
Welsh, in an exclusive interview with this publication a few days after the incident, recounted his experience on that “forgettable morning”.
“At approximately 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, January 22, 2012, I left the Boom Boom Room of the G Spot in Sandy Point to go to the bathroom. While I was about to enter the bathroom, a boy whose name is Graeme had his hand at the door which was blocking me from entering the bathroom. So I asked him to excuse his hand. He removed his hand and I entered, but while I was closing the door an officer shoved back the door and it struck my chest.
“The officer entered the bathroom, gave me two boxes, some chucks to my face and said, ‘Do you know who the @#%+ I be?’ I then said to him, ‘Do you know who I be?’ While saying that, I lifted my hat so that he could have a good view of my face, because I grew up around him…Officer 499. I again asked him if he knew who I be and he said, ‘I don’t give a @#%+ who you be.’ I responded by saying, ‘I am not going to take it like this, I am going to call my father.’
“As I was saying that, Officer 737 came into the bathroom and collar me up and had his hand into my throat like a fist. Then he dragged me out of the bathroom. At that time, my cousin, Totay, and a female friend came up and they advised me to call my father.”
The teenager said that at about 2:40 a.m. he called his father who advised him to report the matter at the Sandy Point Police Station, but he refused to do so in his absence.
“I told my father that I would not go there by myself and asked him to come and accompany me. When my father arrived at the G Spot, the officers had already left the area and we went together to the station and I made a report.
“After making the report, we returned to the G Spot and my father said that he was not going home until he spoke with Totay to hear his version of what transpired between me and the Delta Squad officers. So, I went into the G Spot in search of Totay while my father waited outside.”
Welsh said he did not see his cousin in the G Spot and he returned to his father.
“While talking to my father near to the doorway, Officer 499 and another officer approached us, which was about one and a half hours after I made the report at the station. The officer held my hand and I pulled it away and said to him, ‘I don’t want you to touch me because you just finished abusing me and I didn’t do anything wrong.’ Then another officer came to shackle me and I was objecting, but my father told me to do whatever they say, and I complied.
“I was very much surprised by the officers’ action, because they shackled me and did not say why they did it or even told me that I was under arrest. They then put me in the police bus and instead of going to the station, which is a very short distance away from the G Spot, they drove up to Crab Hill and then turn around at Ken’s Apartment Complex and then turn down the road by Tango. While they were doing all of this driving, the officers were saying many bad things about my father and I responded to them in a very calm manner, because I know my father to be an upright and responsible parent and police officer.
“When we reached the station, the officers seemed confused and one of them went on the phone and called the Sergeant whom he told to speak to my father who at the time was also at the station. However, my father told the officer that he did not want to speak to the Sergeant.”
Welsh claimed to have overheard a conversation between the two officers who allegedly abused him and he reported it to his father.
“While at the station, Officer 737 and Officer 499 had a secret meeting and I overheard Officer 737 telling Officer 499 that I said that I was going to shoot Officer 499. My father, who was outside, came back into the station and I told him what I overheard. All of this happened after Officer 499 had the report papers and he seemed not to know what to write on them. But after the meeting with Officer 737 he then seemed to know what to do.
“I told my father in the two officers’ presence that I had always respected Officer 499 because I grew up around him. It was always me, Mikey and Rasheed Williams who, in the past, had played games after school with the officers at the station, including Officer 499 and my father knew of those times because he was stationed there.
“I then reminded Officer 499 that I didn’t threaten him and that he knew it was a false allegation he was making. I also said to him, ‘I will not threaten you because I grew up around you and I have the utmost respect for you.’ Then he said he could not understand how I am such a liar and behaved so miserably, and that he can’t believe that is the way Welsh’s son grew up.”
“When I was in the bathroom and Officer 499 hit me, I thought to myself that he did not recognise me, but it was after he heard people saying who my father was he then said that he couldn’t believe it was Welsh’s son who grew so big.”
The teenager explained that when he was taken to the station, the officers searched him and said they were looking for drugs, but “everyone in Sandy Point knows that I do not deal with anything illegal”.
“While searching me, Officer 737 told me to take off my shoelaces and my hat. I had my wallet on me and I was giving it to him to search the contents, but he refused to take it. He told me to search it myself and to show him all the money that I had in it. After counting my money he took the wallet. That is something I couldn’t understand; it made no sense to me for him to allow me to examine my wallet when he is the one who claimed to be searching for drugs.
“My father then left the station and returned with my mother and a neighbour. He asked me if the police had charged me and I told him ‘no’. The police subsequently put me on bail and said that I was charged with assault and battery on an officer.”
