Khan wants jury to go to jail

LEAD prosecutor Israel Khan SC wants the court to visit the Golden Grove State Prison in Arouca to see where prisoner Anton Cooper was beaten by prison officers. During the testimony of ex-convict Barry Moore Briggs yesterday, Khan said it became very clear that the jury needs to visit the prison to understand what the witness was saying. “We do not need to only go to the prison, we need to go around 7 pm. It is done in the United States, so we can do it here.” Khan said he intends to make the application for the court to sit at the prison. Justice Malcolm Holdip, sitting in the Port-of-Spain Third Criminal Court, said he would deal with the application at the appropriate time.

Using a sharpened toothbrush with a mirror stuck to it, Briggs related how he witnessed the beating of Anton Cooper by a group of prison officers at Remand Yard of the Golden Grove State Prison. Briggs is no longer a prisoner. He told State attorney Kathy-Ann Waterman-Latchoo that he is a free man. When he witnessed the beating of the prisoner, he was serving a term for robbery with violence. Briggs, 37, a welder of  Success Village, Laventille, was the ninth witness called by the prosecution in the murder trial of prison officers Devindra Ramdial and Ansen Griffith. Briggs was an inmate of the Youth Training Centre from 1984 to 1987. He was there having been convicted for larceny. In 1997, he was convicted of possession of a firearm and ammunition and sentenced to three years. He served only two years because of good behaviour. Because he had other matters pending, he was transferred to the Remand Yard at Golden Grove.

In September 2001, Briggs was convicted of robbery with violence and sentenced to five years. On June 25, 2001, around 6 pm, Briggs was in cell number 12 in an area called the Shallow. There were two other prisoners in that cell, Keon Harris and Mark Blake. While there, a prisoner came and stood in front of his cell for about ten minutes. According to Briggs, there were flourescent lights in the corridor and the ordinary house bulbs in the cells. Briggs looked at a photograph already tendered into evidence and identified the person as Anton Cooper. Briggs said while Cooper was in front of his cell, an orderly called “Sa Sa Ye” and two prison officers approached. The orderly spoke to Cooper and the prison officers started pushing him down the corridor to a place called the Deep.

Briggs said Cooper was taken to cell number 12 in the Deep which is commonly called “Madman Cell.” He said that cell is situated before the toilet, there is no bed, only concrete, pieces of carpet and a slop pail. Sometime later, Briggs said he heard a bang and bawling coming from the Deep. He saw prison officers coming down the corridor carrying long batons, three feet in length. He said the baton was shaped like a baseball bat, and is used for rioting. He said there is another type of baton called the truncheon staff. Briggs identified two of the prison officers to be Ramdial and Griffith. He knew both of them before that day. He said the officers went to the Deep. He took out his “camera” (a toothbrush with a sharpened edge and a mirror stuck to it with chewing gum or soap).

Briggs pushed his “camera” through the bars of his cell, angled it so he was able to observe clearly what was taking place in the Deep. “I observed that they took Cooper out of cell number 12 in the Deep. He was escorted with officers in front and behind. Ramdial was leading. Along the way, Ramdial told Cooper to come out. He took a riot baton and struck Cooper on the chest. Cooper clutched his chest and went down in a crouched position.” Briggs continued, “The officers were shouting at him to walk. He moved in the said crouched position. The prison officers and Cooper stood in front of my cell near a bathroom. Cooper was naked at the time. They told him to go into the shower and take a bath. He went into the shower, turned around and ran to the Deep.”

Briggs told the jury that he heard bawling. Cooper, according to Briggs, was bleeding from a wound to the face. The prison officers brought Cooper back from the Deep to the shower. He stepped into the bathroom, but did not go into the shower. Pamela Elder SC, who was holding for Gilbert Petersen SC who left court early, asked that further examination of the witness be stopped because there was just a junior attorney Owen Hinds Jr present on behalf of accused Griffith. Elder said she agreed to hold for Petersen, but she was also tied up in another murder case in another court. But Justice Holdip said he was not stopping the trial and that he had his reasons. Elder said she could not stay in court as she had the other trial. She then left, leaving Hinds to represent Griffith.

Briggs continued his evidence. When Cooper refused to take the shower, Briggs said the prison officers pounced on him. “They started to beat him with riot batons, they were cuffing and kicking him. Griffith who had a riot baton was also beating Cooper. Ramdial had a long riot baton, but he stood there for a while. Ramdial then told the officers to go easy with the man.” Briggs said the beating went on for a while. Griffith with the help of other officers dragged Cooper under the shower. Cooper groaned. He was then taken out of the bathroom by the officers and moved to the area known as the Shallow. Briggs said Cooper was brought back down by the two accused and other officers and told to take a shower. Cooper who was now trembling, went into the shower. After a while, he was allowed to walk with the officers surrounding him. He was placed in cell number one by Ramdial who locked the door. The officers then left the area.

Briggs said a short while later, there was a banging and bawling coming from cell number one. During the night, Briggs said Ramdial spoke to him. “He told me what I saw there, leave it there, don’t say anything. I did not reply.” On July 4, 2001, Briggs said he saw Ramdial again. “He told me he would drop something for me. He asked me what I and the senior officer spoke about. I told him that I saw nothing. Ramdial told me when I wanted an extra bath, which is a privilege, or a lime in the corridor, to see him or the other officers.” Briggs said he gave three statements to the police on the matter. When hearing resumes on Monday, Briggs will be cross-examined. Sgt Hendron Moses was the other witness who gave evidence yesterday. He said that on August 18, 2002, around 4.30 pm, he went to Ramdial’s home. He identified himself to Ramdial and informed him that ASP Correia had conducted inquiries into Cooper’s death and that there was a warrant for his arrest.