Clebert tells of ‘horror ride’ in police jeep

LAVENTILLE construction worker Clebert Holder is calling on the authorities to explain the reason behind what he termed a brutal attack by four police officers on Wednesday evening. Holder claims he was beaten with a gun, poked with a knife and threatened with death during what he described as a “horror ride in a police jeep” over allegations that he was a “gun tout.” Holder, who is employed with a construction firm in Maraval, explained that his night of horror began in Gonzales and ended in an alley close to his Picton home in Laventille.

He said that he left work and went to get his hair braided in “corn-rows” by his cousin Nolan Roach who lives in Gonzales. Later while waiting for a taxi to return home, a police vehicle with four officers stopped and asked both Holder and Roach their names, before searching them. Despite not finding anything illegal on either of them, Holder said the officers ordered him to get into the jeep, telling him that they were taking him to the police station. When he asked them what station they were taking him to, the officer in the front passenger seat became abusive and started cursing and slapping him in his face. The one seated to his left started poking him with a knife, while the one on his right put a gun to his head and asked him, “You want me to kill you or what?”

He said the officers also relieved him of a pair of earrings given to him by his mother and a gold chain. He claimed the items were not returned to him when he was eventually released. According to a distressed Holder, the officers kept asking him for “the guns” during the beating. “I don’t know anything about any guns, I’ve never owned a gun. I don’t use guns, and I definitely don’t sell or deliver guns to anyone,” Holder stated. Reliving his woes, Holder said the officers took him for a ride through “the Quarry” and Laventille, all the time asking him for “the guns.” He said they eventually pulled up in the alley where he lived, and his stepfather, who saw him in the vehicle, approached the officers and asked them what was going on. The officers allegedly told him they had received information that Holder was a “gun tout,” and based on this information, they were conducting an investigation.