Lewis ordered to hand over report for inquest
Commissioner of Police, Laurie Lewis, has been ordered to hand over a report into the death of Mohammed Shafeek to Chief Magistrate, Paul Fung-A-Fat for the purpose of an inquest. The order nisi was granted by Justice Jainarine Singh yesterday. The application was filed by attorney-at-law Basil Williams on behalf of Seeta Nauth, widow of the West Bank fish vendor who died in the Brickdam lock-ups on the weekend of September 2. There have been many contradictory accounts of Shafeek's death, some from the police, and calls have been steadily building for an independent inquiry. The commissioner at a press conference held last week, far from clarifying the incident added more questions over Shafeek's death. The directive to hand the police report over to the chief magistrate within seven days is "in accordance with Section 5 of the Coroners Act Cap 4:03." The order also directs the commissioner to file an affidavit in answer together with "a certified copy of the aforementioned report within seven days of the service of this order." Section 15 states: "an inquest shall be held in every case of the death of any person confined in any prison or in any lock up or place of confinement... the magistrate of the district in which the prison, lock up... is situated shall forthwith hold an inquiry as to the cause of death." Section 5 states: "where an unnatural death is reported to or comes to the knowledge of any member of the police force, he shall forthwith cause a report to be made to the coroner." Under Section 2 of the act, coroner means the magistrate of the magisterial district in which an unnatural death occurs. Lewis had said last week that he would send the police report to Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Denis Hanomansingh by Monday. Calls to the Office of the DPP failed to establish whether the said report had been received. Meanwhile, Stabroek News has seen a copy of a medical report submitted to the police by the Georgetown Public Hospital. Shafeek was a patient of the hospital up to 1:00 am on the day he was arrested. The document showed that Shafeek suffered from acute upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage-in layman's language a bleeding ulcer. It noted that Shafeek had a history of this condition "and has been taking alcohol excessively for approximately 20 years. He was treated with 5% dextrine and thiamine and he was sedated with valium... Unfortunately he absconded from the ward." The report stated that Shafeek "was fully conscious and well oriented in time, place and person." His blood pressure at 130/80 would be considered normal. "The only other significant finding was minimal tremor of his outstretched hands." A physician, commenting on Shafeek's condition, said while he did not see the patient, his condition did not sound as if it were life-threatening.
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