We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) Member of Parliament Natasha Singh-Lewis has accused police of violating her fundamental rights and treating her inhumanely during her detention at the Farm/Herstelling Police Station over a firearm and ammunition found in a vehicle she was travelling in.
Singh-Lewis, recounting the incident to Kiskadee Watch yesterday, alleged that she was denied access to her medication, family members and a colleague while in custody and was forced to remain standing at the cell door for several hours because of the condition of the cell and her reported health concerns.
“There are so many of my human rights as a woman in custody; there’s so many rights were breached,” Singh-Lewis said, while alleging that the treatment meted out to her amounted to inhumane treatment.
The MP said she was arrested after police searched a vehicle in which she was travelling and discovered a bag containing a Glock 19 9mm pistol, ammunition and a photocopy of a firearm licence in the name of fellow MP Dawn Hastings-Williams.
According to her, she and Hastings-Williams had returned from an outreach and were preparing to leave the area when they heard police and Guyana Defence Force vessels arrive at the wharf. Hastings-Williams had jumped back onto the boat, but before she could do so, police cut the rope securing the vessel, leaving Singh-Lewis on the wharf. She then entered her vehicle and attempted to drive to the police station.
“I told them I have no knowledge of this, I know it belongs to MP Dawn Hastings, it is her bag, it is her belongings,” Singh-Lewis recounted. She was nevertheless arrested for possession of the firearm and ammunition and taken to the Farm Police Station, where she was placed in a cell.
Singh-Lewis said that she immediately informed police that she was asthmatic, hypertensive and claustrophobic and could not remain in the cell because of its condition.
She described the cell as dusty and dirty, with a hole in the floor serving as a toilet. She also alleged that there was no proper place for detainees to sit and that a sponge inside the cell was infested with insects.
According to the MP, she remained standing at the cell door from about 1:30 a.m. until 8:30 a.m., partly because she feared an asthma attack if she remained inside.
Singh-Lewis said she experienced a severe headache during the detention and believed her blood pressure was elevated and said that her medication and inhaler were not provided to her because her family was not permitted to see her.
She also said a request for a chair so that she could sit and pray was denied.
“I was treated inhumanely,” Singh-Lewis expressed, adding that she believed political instructions may have influenced how she was treated. She said she had complied with the police throughout the arrest and questioned how ordinary citizens would be treated if they were detained under similar circumstances.
The police, however, said in a statement that ranks from Regional Division 4’B’ Headquarters acted on information received and went to a property at Public Road, Friendship, East Bank Demerara, where they intercepted motor car PAH 4034, a black Toyota Allion, at about 12:15 a.m. on August 26.
Police said the vehicle was occupied by a 35-year-old Campbellville businessman and his wife, identified as Singh-Lewis, and that the vehicle was stopped and searched in the presence of both occupants.
During the search, police said they found in the trunk a bag containing a Glock 19 9mm pistol, a magazine with 12 live rounds of ammunition and a photocopy of a firearm licence issued in the name of Dawn Hastings-Williams.
The firearm and ammunition were seized, and police said both occupants were cautioned and arrested before being escorted to the Farm/Herstelling Police Station along with the vehicle.
Singh-Lewis was interviewed by detectives at about 9 a.m. on August 26 after consulting with her lawyer and providing a statement. She was subsequently released at about 11:42 a.m. on $200,000 station bail.
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