Stann Creek family alleges torture by police
In the two weeks since the brazen one hundred and fifty-eight thousand dollar hold-up of the Dangriga branch of Scotia Bank, there have still been no arrests. But police have picked up a number of people for questioning. Among those detained, but never charged are three members of the Faux family, each of whom lives in a different part of the Stann Creek District. Today the father and his two sons told News Five they were brutally beaten and two of them claim police used electric shock as a form of torture. Twenty-seven year old Frans Faux was the first to be contacted by the police. He says his ordeal began when officers arrived at his Dangriga home claiming they were making a routine search.
Frans Faux, Alleges Police Brutality
?I was picked up by the police on Friday. They went to my house, told me they were searching for guns, drugs and ammunition. I complied. I was later told that I would be taken to the police station for questioning. I was taken to the police station and locked down on Friday. On Saturday morning I was taken out, and taken to a room and shocked on my hands and my neck. This is where they shocked me. They took like the end of an extension cord, like the end of a plug, like of a fan and plug it into the wall and shocked me with the other end. This happened for about half an hour.?
Frans Faux says he was then taken to Belize City where it became apparent he was supposed to identify another suspect in the Scotia Bank heist. When he did not recognize the man, he says the officers took him to Belizean Beach on Saturday night and beat him with sticks and repeatedly kicked him. On Sunday he was finally sent home to Dangriga on the bus, but not charged with any crime.
While Frans was in custody, police went in search of his father, John Faux, in Placencia. A lobster fisherman by trade, John was out on a dive, but says he voluntarily went to the local police station that evening. Instead of being questioned, he says he was taken to a desolate beach by two officers who repeatedly beat him while asking “where’s the money?” without specifying which money. He says the beatings culminated in threats on his life.
John Faux, Alleges Police Brutality
?After that they drag me up again and one of the officers said, ?Mek we shot he r****. Get the machete out of the vehicle and put that ina his hand mek he fingerprint and then we wah shot ah and then we could always tell them that he haul the machete after we. So they gone, get the machete outta the vehicle, come and force it ina mi hand and wrap mi hand round it and put the gun, the pistol, to mi kneecap and cock it back. They say, ?well we wah just bruk he foot, mek he can?t walk.? But they never did fire no shot or nothing. So I said like this, I said ?Man, it easier unu kill me you know because unu di beat me fi nothing. Then right there one of them just punch me ina mi face, pan mi eye. I tell them, ?Easier unu kill me, because I noh know weh unu di talk about; I noh know nothing weh unu di talk bout. Later on after that, well that was the end of the beating.?
John Faux says he was then taken to Dangriga police station and interrogated by high ranking officers. He was next transported to Belize City to look at mug shots. When he could not identify any of the pictures, he was released on Tuesday. He says his mother took him to Belmopan and Southern Regional Hospitals where he remained for four days recovering from his injuries.
His other son, nineteen-year-old Mark Faux was roused from his bed in the village of Steadfast on Monday morning. He claims Dangriga police beat him, gagged him with toilet paper, and handcuffed him to a metal chair.
Mark Faux, Alleges Police Brutality
?The other one come and he said, ?Look like he no wan talk.? So the next one say, ?I have the remedy.? Then he get the electric thing and just plug it ina the wall. He set it pan my hand over this side and he shock me up over this hand too, and I just shake up and shake up. I began to sweat, I start to sweat a lee bit and the shock start to get harder and I start to feel it all in ya so, because my hand mi brace so on the steel chair. And I start to feel it in ya so (points to armpits) and it hurt me.?
Mark Faux says he had nothing to tell the police and they eventually released him and he caught a bus back to his village.
The Faux family is being represented by Antoinette Moore, a Dangriga attorney and human rights activist. She says any form of torture, particularly electric shocks, is totally unacceptable.
Antoinette Moore, Attorney
?We would hope that the police will take seriously these charges and investigate and bring criminal charges against the police who are involved, since this is criminal activity, not investigation. Supposedly, the investigation of the Scotia Bank robbery in here in Dangriga is what prompted the questioning of these three men, the three members of the Faux family.?
?But certainly torture and brutality, kicking and beating, and use of electric shock is not investigation. I think all in Belizean society would agree with that and all would condemn using such measures to question anyone or to get any information about any crime or offence.?
Both John and Frans Faux have filed formal complaints with the police department’s internal affairs office in Belmopan and are prepared to file lawsuits against the Government of Belize, individual police officers and the commissioner of police. Police Press Officer G. Michael Reid told News Five he is aware of the complaints and that any form of torture or brutality is against department policy. He says that if an investigation reveals any wrongdoing on the part of individual officers, the Commissioner of Police will take appropriate disciplinary action or initiate criminal proceedings if warranted. It appears that the official interest in the Faux family was prompted by the overnight presence of a vehicle believed to be used by the robbers, parked in Mark Faux’s yard in Steadfast Village.
