The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THREE weeks after police announced an investigation into claims that officers at East Street South Police Station refused to take a young mother’s complaint that she had been beaten, she says she has heard nothing.

“No, I’m sorry there hasn’t been any updates regarding the situation,” Lewratta Farisien, 23, said yesterday.

Police did not provide an update on the investigation when contacted by The Tribune.

Ms Farisien said all she knew was that her son’s father and his aunt had been charged and were due in court in March. Sujahri Robinson, 23, and Charlene Johnson, 52, both of Palm Estate, pleaded not guilty last month to jointly causing her harm on October 1. Their trial is set for March 17, 2027. As a condition of their bail, both must sign in every month at East Street South, the same station whose officers she has accused.

Ms Farisien alleges that instead of taking her complaint, officers there warned her that her boyfriend, himself a police officer, could be arrested and that she could lose custody of her two-year-old son. She filed her complaint at Carmichael Road Police Station instead, where she said a female senior officer saw her injuries and immediately gave her a hospital form.

She said she suffered a black eye, bite marks around her mouth, bruises to her head and an injured toe in a fight over her son at his paternal grandmother’s home. Had her boyfriend not been there, she said, “I felt like I would have been beaten to death”.

She also alleged that once the pair were charged, officers she believed were from East Street South came looking for her at her home, her salon and her boyfriend’s residence and kept calling her phone. She said she believed they were trying to pressure her into dropping the charges.

She reported the East Street South officers’ conduct to the police’s Complaints and Corruption Branch.

In October, the force said it had launched an investigation to establish the facts and determine whether any policies or procedures had been breached. It said it would follow departmental procedures if breaches were found.

The Complaints and Corruption Branch investigates complaints against officers and reports its preliminary findings to the Commissioner of Police. An officer under investigation is formally served with the details of the complaint. Under the Police Force Act, 2009, the branch must complete its investigation within six months of the matter arising, though that period can be extended. Officers can face a disciplinary tribunal if the complaint is serious.

If Ms Farisien’s account is accurate, the officers’ handling of her complaint would run counter to the Protection Against Violence Act, 2023. The Act requires an officer who receives a complaint from a victim of violence to take a written statement, signed by both, and to investigate it. It also requires anyone dealing with victims in a professional capacity to treat them with compassion and dignity.