Police bungles manslaughter case against their own

Police bungles manslaughter case against their own

Two years after the Guyana Police Force filed charges against two of their own policemen for the shooting death of a young man outside the fish shop on Hadfield Street, the force is being accused of deliberately bungling the investigation and the court case.

Twenty-one year old Dameon Belgrave was shot dead while hanging out with some friends outside the fish shop as the police were giving chase to a teenager who reportedly drove off with his father’s car without the father’s knowledge. The teen was not armed but the police opened fire behind him and some of those gunshots struck and killed Belgrave.

The two police officers Corporal Shurland Williams and Constable Errol Williams were charged in late 2012 with manslaughter stemming from the police probe.

However, last week both men were set free by a City Magistrate during the preliminary inquiry after the police force’s own ballistics expert testified that the bullets that struck and killed the young man did not come from the guns being carried by the two officers but rather from a third officer who was at the scene. That third officer was never arrested or charged in the case but reportedly served as a witness in the case.

It remains unclear why the information about the ballistics results were only presented recently in the case. It’s also unclear why the third policeman who reportedly fired the fatal bullets was never charged.

The 21 year old Dameon Belgrave was killed on the eve of his birthday. His parents have said they need justice done in the matter and the Alliance For Change has called for a full independent investigation. The Guyana Police Force had conducted over 2 months of investigations before the case was presented to the court and the two officers charged.

 

 

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