The Haitian Embassy has officially lodged a “formal complaint” concerning the alleged attack of a Haitian detainee by a guard at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre.
Haitian Ambassador to The Bahamas, Louis Harold Joseph, told The Guardian that the complaint was sent just days after the alleged attack. “On Friday we sent a diplomatic notice to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the incident,” said Ambassador Joseph. While he would not go into detail, the Haitian official did admit that the Bahamian government has responded to the letter.
“The only thing I can tell you is the Ministry already answered saying that they will pass on the information and discuss it with the relevant authorities,” he said.
According to an Embassy press statement issued last week, the complaint comes after the Haitian Ambassador’s recent visit to The Detention Centre.
“Concerning the incident which occurred May 2nd, 2006 at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre where a Haitian detainee was physically abused: The Ambassador, upon receiving reports of the incident, went to the Centre accompanied by Embassy Consular Officers to gather information,” the statement read. It added that Ambassador Joseph had met with Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell and Immigration Minister Shane Gibson just 24 hours after the alleged incident. “The Embassy recognises the right of The Bahamas as a sovereign nation to take appropriate measures to fight illegal immigration,” it read.
“However, in this process, it is important that the rights of Haitian nationals be respected and they be treated with human dignity.” Pandemonium broke out at the Detention Centre last Tuesday after an officer allegedly attacked a Haitian national. Enraged visitors were forced from the compound causing visiting hours to be cut short, and officers from the Carmichael Road Police Station had to be summoned to the scene to restore order. The scores of angry Haitians gathered on the outside of the facility demanded an end to the alleged “abuse” of their countrymen.
Twenty-seven-year-old Jason Lionels was reportedly slapped in the chest and beaten with a gun by an officer as he stood behind the fence talking to a female friend.
“We came here on visiting hours to see him, He was standing up to the gate here talking to me. The officer told Jason he was not standing in the right position to speak to me so he told Jason to go in the back of the gate.
Jason stepped back, but the – officer took his hand and slapped him about three times in his chest with the back of his hand. “Jason said, ‘Man don’t hit me I going right now. Don’t push me.’ The officer took the gun and he started beating him about the body. He was hit in his head, face, ribs and legs,” said eyewitness Carolyn Fatal.
She insisted that the officer’s gun broke during the attack and maintained Jason did nothing wrong to deserve the kind of treatment he reportedly received.
By JASMIN BONIMY Guardian Staff Reporter
