Senior Reporter
jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt
Attorneys representing deceased inmate Sherlon Brown said yesterday that they will be filing a civil lawsuit against the State, after his autopsy revealed that he died from multiple blunt force trauma to the head and body, which was inflicted during a fracas at the Port-of-Spain Prison last week.
Speaking with Guardian Media yesterday, Siddiq Manzano, one of three attorneys who represented four of the six inmates involved in last Tuesday’s fracas, said they are not too confident the criminal proceedings will bring justice for the family.
Manzano, along with Alexia Romero and Lemuel Murphy, are seeking the interests of the inmates who suffered broken limbs during a fracas with prison officers at the facility last week.
Pathologist Dr Hughvon Des Vignes was hired by the relatives of Brown to witness the autopsy at the Forensic Science Centre, St James.
Asked what the findings were, Monzano said: “We would have made requests to have our own private pathologists attend the autopsy today. Brief indication would have been made that Mr Brown would have died as a result of blunt force injuries to the head.”
The is the second time that Des Vignes had had to witness an autopsy for the attorneys. Last October, another of their clients, Emmanuel Joseph, died while is custody after he was charged with the attempted murder of Deputy Prison Commissioner Sherwyn Bruce. Manzano said Des Vignes found that Joseph died from “1,000 blows”.
Relatives of Brown did not want to comment on the findings of the autopsy.
Brown’s autopsy was also witnessed by a prison officer and a police officer assigned to the Homicide Bureau. It also found that he suffered multiple blunt force trauma with several defensive wounds and patterned injuries.
While being interviewed, Manzano was informed that officers from the Homicide Bureau and Port-of-Spain Criminal Investigations Department were at the prison seeking to interview other prisoners in relation to Brown’s death.
Manzano said his client, during his time in prison, had not been involved in any infraction of the prison rules and was deemed a “model inmate”. He added that reports from other clients (prisoners), suggested Brown was “innocently beaten” during the fracas.
“Based on further information on instructions from other clients, Mr Brown wasn’t even directly involved in the incident. He was a mere bystander,” he said.
“On behalf of Mr Brown’s family, we do understand that they are going through the various stages of grief right now, but we will ensure that we will get to the bottom of the incident.”
Manzano said while he trusts the criminal process, he is more confident in civil action, given that Joseph died last October and to date nothing has come out of it.
“At this point in time, we are confident, relative to the civil aspects of justice, but as it relates to the intended criminal proceedings ... we must trust the process, however, there has been some time that we’ve had a previous incident for Emmanuel Joseph, who would have passed away at the hands of the state and up to now there has been little to no progress relative to same.”
Manzano called on the country not to condemn his client because he was on remand for murder.
“I think it is important to understand the justice system and the judicial system in this country as persons are innocent until proven guilty. Mr Brown was a remanded inmate. He was not convicted of any offence, and he was a person as innocent as any of us on the outside.”
Contacted afterwards, acting Prison Commissioner Deopersad Ramoutar said he could not comment as the matter was now a police matter. Asked if the officers involved in the incident would be placed on desk duties pending the outcome, he said they remained on sick leave and he was not considering that now.
Brown, of Long Circular Road, St James, was remanded into custody after being charged alongside two men with murdering 22-year-old Joshua Fortune in October 2020. Fortune was shot dead near his home on Balbadie Hill, Belle Vue, Long Circular, St James, on September 18, 2019.
In a press release after the incident last week, the T&T Prison Service claimed the fracas stemmed from a dispute between a prisoner and a prison officer. It said the inmate refused to obey lawful instructions to return to his cell, became violent and uncontrollable and assaulted the officer. It said as the officer tried to defend himself, other inmates nearby went to the inmate’s defence, causing a fracas which other prison officers had to respond to to help their colleague.
However, lawyers for three of the injured prisoners gave an alternative version in a lawsuit over them being transferred to other prison facilities after being discharged from hospital. They claimed prison officers were physically abusing a Muslim prisoner with epilepsy and another Muslim prisoner objected, leading to both of them being beaten. They claimed the men ran into a cell which contained other prisoners and they too were attacked by the prison officers.