BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A young McKnight male, whose innocence in a charge of “Assault with intent to rob” was justified on Wednesday (Sept. 5) at a preliminary inquiry (PI) hearing at the Basseterre Magistrate’s Court, has accused a member of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force of harassment and the tarnishing of his reputation by willfully charging him for offences he did not commit.
Twenty-one-year-old Bernell (BJ) Whyte visited this media house the afternoon after the dismissal of his charge and levelled those charges against an officer (name provided), and is of the view that “proper investigation into charges made against me by my nemesis has never been conducted by his superiors”.
“This officer has been targeting me for quite some time and I do not know the reason or what wrong I have done to him. It all started when he shot me on the morning of my 18th birthday when I was coming out of the alley between College Street Ghaut and Upper Market Street making my way to Shamari’s to buy fried fish.
“It was the same morning, January 10, 2009, when somebody shot and killed Isimba Bradley. I was taken to the JNF Hospital and treated for my injury. While there taking my treatment, I was told that I was under police custody for the murder of Isimba, but I knew that was a ploy in an attempt to justify the officer’s reason for shooting me.
“However, when I was discharged from the hospital on Friday, January 23, 2009, I was told that I was no longer in police custody. But strange enough, 10 months after my release from the hospital, Wednesday, November 25, 2009, I was arrested and charged with Isimba’s murder.
“My name and photograph was published by all the media houses in the Federation and in my innocence I had to spend 10 months in jail. However, my innocence was finally justified at the preliminary inquiry in September 2010 because Ms. Mallalieu ruled that there was not enough evidence to justify sending the case to trial. The findings were never published by the media houses and anybody can see that if they go on SKNVibes web site. This therefore means that even though the charge was dismissed, in the eyes of the public I am still the one charged with Isimba’s murder.”
Whyte claimed that the same officer had kept harassing him whenever he saw him on the streets of Basseterre and in 2011 he was locked up and charged for another offence, which he noted was a trumped-up charge.
“This same officer picked me up in Basseterre one day in 2011 and locked me up. He charged me for being a gang member and I was remanded to prison for one week. When we appeared before Ms. Mallalieu at the preliminary inquiry, the police said that they interpreted messages sent by phone calls that I was given orders to carry out hits. Ms. Mallalieu ordered the police to produce the evidence but they failed to do so and subsequently said that they would drop the charge because it was a misunderstanding.
“Again my name was published by the media houses in the Federation as being charged under the Gang Act, but no publication was there about the findings.”
The young man said that his last encounter with the police occurred in May 2012 when he was arrested and charged with assault with intent to rob.
“On Sunday, May 27 this year, the police arrested me, Ryan Warner and Audinton Syder and claimed that at approximately three o’clock on Saturday, May 12, 2012 we went to rob three persons who live in Frigate Bay and that we had guns and demanded money from them, but after the persons said that they had no money we fled the scene.
“That was another frame charge! I was nowhere near that scene and I am not a thief! Again I was remanded to prison and it was not until my 14th appearance in court that my innocence was proven.
“Thirteen times we appeared before Ms. Mallalieu and the police were asked to produce their evidence; it was the same officer who shot and constantly harasses me. When we appeared at the preliminary inquiry today (Sept. 4, 2012), he told the magistrate that he recognised me as one of the three masked men from the footage provided by the business community in Frigate Bay.
“The persons whom I was accused of approaching with a gun to rob them were also in court and they told the magistrate, under oath, that they did not recognise any of us in court because the three men who wanted to rob them were all masked.
“Ms. Mallalieu dismissed the charges for lack of evidence and told the officer to stay away from me because he seemed to be the person who always arrests, charges and brings me before the court for matters that lack evidence.”
Whyte said that he is frustrated and has a very hard time finding a job because of “the false charges I am getting and persons would go on SKNVibes and see my name and photo of being arrested and charged but not acquitted of them. If this is the way that the police want to solve crime by arresting innocent persons just to make the public believe that they are doing an excellent job, then there is need for a cleansing process of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force.
“I do know that that particular officer and also his superiors will read what I have said, but I need to let the public know how devious he can be. I also want to make my discriminating situation public because he may want to add another frame charge to my name”.
