Yesterday, High Court Judge Justice Navindra Singh dismissed the $80M lawsuit filed by Colwyn Harding against the State and ordered him to pay costs in the sum of $1M each to the Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Anil Nandlall, and Police Officer, Devin Singh. Harding had approached the court seeking damages, claiming that he was beaten and sodomized with a baton while in police custody back in November 2013, when he was arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest.
During his live show, “Issues in the News”, last evening, Nandlall said that the case demonstrates ‘many things’ including the damage that can be meted out to the State and the Guyana Police Force (GPF)’s image when politics is introduced.
Nandlall said that he knew since 2014 that the allegations were ‘fabricated’ because of politics, which caused the matter to become a ‘huge human rights issue’. He noted that after the allegation was made, a doctor concluded that Harding bore no injuries corroborative of the allegations leveled. Doctors found that Harding was suffering from an intestinal infection.
“I remember that as Attorney General, I was forced to issue a statement in defence of the police because we called in a doctor to examine Mr. Harding, and Mr. Harding did not have any injuries supportive or corroborative of the allegations of violence that he was making against the police officer.
Nandlall said that the allegations were ‘manufactured’ and he knew that Harding’s attorney would not be able to prove violence was meted out to his client during his arrest. The AG said that “because of politics, they made a huge human rights issue”.
The AG noted that since the allegation was made, the police officer has received numerous death threats.
“He had to leave his home and move out of the village, because he was constantly receiving death threats and his parents were receiving death threats, and his family and relatives were receiving death threats. This case excited a lot of hostilities in the media, social media, and all over the country. I knew from the beginning that they were fabricating these allegations because the doctor found no evidence of violence.”
Nandlall said that Harding had his chance to prove those allegations but was absent from court yesterday. “When Colwyn Harding is to come into the witness box now to prove this case, he did not show up! His lawyer wrote a letter to the judge saying they can’t find him,” he said.
Nandlall added, “immeasurable harm was done to the Guyana Police Force [and] measurable harm was done to the State’s image… This thing was reported in all of the newspapers, and today (Tuesday) when he has his day in court – the opportunity to come and tell his story – he runs away. The entire case was a fabrication from the beginning.”
