The State has to pay $100,000 in damages to a 31-year-old New Grant man who is partially deaf due to severe beating at the hands of a police officer seven years ago.
Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh also ordered the State to pay costs after ruling in favour of Kareem Henry in an assault and battery lawsuit against the State.
During the beating at the Arouca Police Station, he was slapped over the ear and hit with a book in the face. He was represented by attorney Abdel Mohammed.
In his witness statement, Henry, an engineering fitter, said around 11 am he was seated in a car parked 100 metros from the police station entering a phone card into his cellphone.
He said a marked police jeep pulled in front of the vehicle and two police officers exited and approached him.
The police officers shouted, “Put your hands in the air.”
He said one of the officers then opened the car door, grabbed him by his shoulder and pulled him out the car. The officers searched him but found nothing illegal on him. The officers told him they had “information” about the car in which he was seated. He was arrested, handcuffed, placed in the police vehicle and taken to the station. In the station’s charge room, he was ordered to sit with his hands still handcuffed behind his back. Henry was then questioned by Police Constable Don Balgobin.
He said, “While I was being questioned, PC Balgobin suddenly and without any warning, began cuffing and punching me in my right ribs and chest area about two times. The cuffs were so hard that it caused me to lose my breath and I was not able to breathe properly for a few minutes. The punches were so hard that I felt that the blows had knocked all the wind from my chest.”
He pleaded his innocence, saying that he was not the driver of the car and was just waiting for his cousin. He said the officer then slapped him twice on his ears at the same time. “The slaps were so hard that caused my ears had a ‘popping’ sensation and I was not able to hear properly at all in both my ears.” He said the slap caused his ears to “ring” for three days.
The officer, he said, accused him of making up the story and cuffed him on the left and right sides of his chest three to four times.
Henry said whenever he tried to plead his innocence the officer continued to slap and cuff him about his body and head.
He said PC Balgobin struck him with the station diary on his head, which made him feel dizzy. “I was so frightened that I would lose my life as a result of the actions of PC Balgobin.”
He said after the beating, he remained silent because he was frightened that he would be beaten to death. Balgobin, he said, then sloped him on the left side of his face, causing his lip to burst and bleed and his face became swollen.
He said after the ten- minute ordeal, he was eventually placed in the holding cell.
Henry said he was moaning and groaning in pain, unable to sleep, but he was fearful that if he asked for medical attention the officer would beat him again.
Henry was charged on January 3, 2012, and while in the prisoners’ bay the Arima Magistrates Court, an officer inquired if he was okay and he told him of the beating.
He was then taken for medical attention at the health facility where he was given painkillers and ordered to get further treatment at the hospital.
He returned to court and was granted his own bail. He said he underwent further treatment for his left ear, but to date, his hearing has not returned fully in his left ear.
He said this hearing loss continues to have an impact on him on his job and is at risk of losing his job. As a result of the merciless beating for no reason, he has lost all faith in the police service and is always frighten whenever he sees the police.
The defence witnesses, PC Balgobin, Bhim and Ramjohn denied that Henry was assaulted.