Kidnap suspects claim police brutality
In recent years there has never been any shortage of police brutality to report in Belize. But as the pressure mounts for authorities to produce results in the war against drugs and guns it seems that some officers forget that the rule of law applies to criminals both in and out of uniform.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
Today there are police officers standing guard outside #51 West Collet Canal and the four men who were in the home last night are still being detained at the Queen Street Police Station. But that’s not the story. Edith Tesecum, who lives in this house, alleges that police officers simply barged into her home and started beating everyone up.
Edith Tesecum
“The police jumped over the fence and through the back and went to the back door. The back door has a lock that’s spoilt so the back door can’t open. They were banging on the back door and ramming it like they wanted to knock it down and we told them to go around. They were cursing the whole while and telling us to open the door, open the door. So we told them to come around and when they came around, they still began to ram this front door. One of the guys got up and opened the door. As soon as he opened the door they hit him the side of the face with a crowbar on the side of his cheek. I don’t know if it burst his eardrums or what, but his ears started to bleed and the side of his face was swollen, swollen.”
“I wasn’t handcuffed, but the four guys were handcuffed to one another and they were walked on, beat on. One of the police…I told him I would report him and he told me report this. He then took the crowbar and he hit my boyfriend over the back with it.”
According to Tesecum, the officers wanted Sidney Ellis, her boyfriend, to give them the key for his 1999 Ford Expedition.
Edith Tesecum
“They wanted the key for the Expedition. The police just have a major problem with the vehicle, that’s the whole thing.”
Janelle Chanona
“What kind of problems do they have with the vehicle?”
Edith Tesecum
“They want to know why he has an Expedition…a ’99 Expedition and he isn’t working, they say. So they want to know why he has that sort of vehicle. They are just hating him for what he has.”
Janelle Chanona
“The police always come and bother your boyfriend?”
Edith Tesecum
“Yes. We just moved in this house late last year and during that space of time, this is the 4th time the police has come here and ransacked this house without and warrant, without any sort of paper or anything to say that they have the right to come into this house. I know they don’t need any warrant for guns or drugs but that’s not what they came to look for last night, and they didn’t find any of that.”
The sister-in-law of Sidney Ellis, Kimary Casimiro also alleges that the police went to her house looking for that same key.
Kimary Casimiro
“Well last night they went by 52 St. Thomas St. by Kings Park, stamped open my door. They want the key for the Expedition and they put guns on me and my sister-in-law’s forehead and told us that we got the key because Sydney told them that we got the key for the Expedition, so they want it. My little girl started to cry out because they are cranking the gun. That is not right for them to be going to people’s homes and cranking guns, because they did not show us any warrant to ransack the house. I told them well we don’t have any key, and they said that if we do not give them the key, they will destroy the Expedition and they won’t pay for it. they are making a lot of scenery outside, so I told them if they destroy that, they wouldn’t be able to pay for it, because it is an expensive vehicle. They said they don’t care and that they are going to tug it out the yard and take it to the station if we don’t want to give up the key. We told them we don’t have any key, but they still crank up the gun and put it to our foreheads. They don’t have any right to do that.”
Edith Tesecum says she has constantly had to rearrange her home after the police visits but says Tuesday night’s incident was the worst she has had to endure. She is also upset that when she was taken to the police station last night, she was not allowed to put on any clothes.
Edith Tesecum
“Last night I had on this Janelle, this see through thing and this was what I had to go to the police station in. I was told I could not put on any clothes, I had to go to the police station in this clothes and I was taken down there and locked up from after 10 last night until this morning after 12.”
Janelle Chanona
“Do you feel that your rights are being violated?”
Edith Tesecum
“Yes I believe so. The police do have a job to do, but if they have a job to do, do it right. I don’t have a problem with them coming and searching my house. They can search all they want because they won’t find anything. It’s the manner in which they come and do it, I don’t think any violence was necessary in this case.”
According to the police, Tesecum’s boyfriend, Sidney Ellis is still being detained but has not been charged with any crime. It is believed the police wanted to search the car because of a kidnapping incident that allegedly took place on Tuesday afternoon.
Edith Tesecum
“The police allege that the vehicle was involved in some kidnapping incident. But no charges have been brought forward, nobody has been charged and it has not been proven that that was the vehicle that was involved. I don’t see why they had to come and get that vehicle key.”
Janelle Chanona
“And you don’t know anything about any kidnapping?”
Edith Tesecum
“Well I was at work. I have a perfect alibi, I was at work all day, so I am not involved in anything. I don’t see why I should be held responsible for the actions of anybody.”
According to press officer Christy Castillo, the Commissioner of Police, Hughington Williams has been informed of the allegations against the officers involved and says a full internal investigation has been launched.
Janelle Chanona for News Five.
The kidnapping incident allegedly involving a green Ford Expedition was said to have taken place around 5 o’clock Tuesday afternoon in the Vista Del Mar area. Lloyd King has reported to police that he was walking in the Vista del Mar area when a green Expedition pulled up along side him. King says the 5 men inside the car started asking him about a gun and when he denied any knowledge about a firearm, he was ordered to get into the vehicle. King told police he was taken to the Bermudian Landing Road, past the Sebastian Bridge and then unto a nearby feeder road. There, King says the men beat him with a metal pipe until he managed to run away and jump into the river. In addition to the four men already detained, police say they are looking for one more suspect.
