Three men and a minor accused of robbing Roman Catholic priest Fr Clyde Harvey last week claimed yesterday they were beaten by police to confess to the crime.
Lawyers representing Christian Huggins, 19, Miguel Collins, 18, Dion Gillard, 21 and a 17-year-old, who name has been withheld,made the allegations shortly after they were denied bail in the Port-of-Spain Magistrate’s Court, yesterday.
Attorney Chelsea John, who represented Collins, said: “My client has informed me that he was beaten and forced to sign a document which he was not able to read.”
In response police prosecutor Sgt Azard Ali questioned the veracity of the allegations.
“I find it passingly strange that all of a sudden the accused were beaten,” Ali said.
Huggins’ lawyer Ronald Daniels rejected Ali’s assertion which he described as inappropriate and unfortunate.
Presiding magistrate Kerri Honore-Narine made a note of the complaints and instructed the defence attorneys that the issue may be raised during the trial of the case.
The men who were dressed in the same clothes they were wearing when they were arrested by officers of the Port-of-Spain CID last week, all appeared to have bruise marks on their faces but no other injuries that were visible in court.
Honore-Narine acceded to the attorneys’ request to have the group taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital for treatment before being remanded to prison and the Youth Training Centre (YTC) in Arouca.
The accused were charged with breaking and entering into the St Martin’s RC Church at Hermitage Road, Gonzales, and falsely imprisoning Harvey, during an incident last Monday.
They were also accused of using personal violence to rob Harvey of a watch valued at US$500, a Samsung Galaxy cellphone valued at $4,500 and $1,000 cash.
When the group’s attorneys attempted to apply for bail, the prosecutor said the criminal record tracing was not available and asked that the case be adjourned to Thursday.
Honore-Narine agreed as she said she could not consider bail without having sight of the records.
The minor was represented by Sheldon Guerra, while Gillard represented himself.